Children begin learning from the moment they are born. Parents and teachers may be able to facilitate the learning experience as a child grows, but from day one, children are ultimately responsible for teaching themselves.
A Natural Process
Learning is a natural process that every child experiences in her own unique way. By examining how very young children learn from birth onward, it becomes clear that children are born inquisitive, with an inherent desire to experiment and explore the world around them. At the youngest age, it appears that there is nothing anyone could do to stop a child’s natural learning process from taking place. Babies learn to walk, to talk, and to formulate ideas and opinions about the world around them, with little forced “instruction” from adults.
Figuring Things Out
Consider the fact that even those young children who are often placed in playpens, or cribs by adults trying to keep them in “one place” for a time, will learn how to climb out of that one place, sooner or later. The adult’s efforts to “confine” the child, or to keep them from learning such new skills as walking and crawling, don’t seem to hinder the child in his or her own natural drive to learn these skills.
Learning to Speak
Children learn to speak simply by being exposed to language on a regular basis. Very few adults attempt to forcefully instruct a child in language development, and yet almost all children catch on to the art of speaking quite readily.
Early Exploration
Young children explore their worlds with intense curiosity - touching, feeling, tasting and experimenting with anything and everything they can get their hands on. This natural learning is always self directed. As the child grows and discovers something new, she is compelled by an inborn desire to investigate, to learn, and to grow.
Case in Point from John Holt
There is much evidence that children who are allowed to continue to direct their own learning throughout their formative years actually learn at a faster rate, and perform better on academic assessments, as opposed to those who attend traditional schools, where agendas for learning are laid out for them.
John Holt, a well known leader in the principles of “unschooling” presents an overwhelming amount of evidence against the modern classroom, and principles of ‘forced learning” in his book “How Children Fail.” Mr. Holt, a former 5th grade teacher in the public school system, made significant observations about the differences between forced learning and natural learning, and the benefits of the latter in children’s ability to remember what they have learned. He also notes significant differences in children's overall feelings about learning, when it is self-directed, as opposed to the “learning” that takes place in modern classrooms.
The book “How Children Learn,” also by John Holt, is an excellent resource for families whom are looking for more information regarding self-directed learning, or considering an “unschooling” approach to their children’s education.
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