The Legacy of John Holt: A Man Who Genuinely Understood, Trusted, and Respected Children

"The Legacy of John Holt is unequivocally provocative and memorable."—The Portland (OR) Book Review, May 29, 2014

"John Holt is rather a hero to the 'unschooling' faction of the homeschooling movement, but his ideas and methods have broad resonance to anyone concerned about our educational system, schools, or children . . .
. . . The message is abundantly clear from these essays: John Holt was a man to love and be loved. This book is a sensitive and loving tribute, and those who read it will be glad to get to know him through the memories of his friends."—The San Francisco Book Review, May 27, 2014

The Legacy of John Holt: A Man Who Genuinely Understood, Trusted, and Respected Children contains sixteen essays by friends, colleagues, and children (now adults) who personally knew and were influenced by Holt. A deep appreciation for Holt’s wide-ranging intellect, humor, and his ability to work with, not on, children emerge from these portraits. People who knew Holt when he was young write about his personal journey from conventional school teacher to unschooler, while pioneer homeschoolers write about the school, social, court room, and legislative battles Holt helped them negotiate at a time when the right to homeschool was often challenged.

Holt was far ahead of his time with his ideas about teaching and optimal environments for learning. Kirsten Olson, author of Wounded by School, notes in her introduction, “Holt’s observations and thoughts on the importance of pleasure while learning, how teaching can interfere with learning, and the psychosocial means through which teacher beliefs about pupils predict and create performance, are truths about human cognition now being proven in learning labs around the world.”

John Holt gained fame in the 1960s as an insightful school critic with his books How Children Fail and How Children Learn, both of which are still in print, been translated into over 14 languages, and combined have sold nearly 2 million copies. Frustrated by the slow pace of change in schools, Holt became one of the founders of the homeschooling movement in 1977, when he published the first magazine about learning outside school, Growing Without Schooling.

ABOUT THE EDITORS
Patrick Farenga worked with John Holt and continued publishing Growing Without Schooling after Holt died in 1985 until 2001, when it ceased publication. He is the co-author of Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling.

Carlo Ricci is a professor of education and currently teaches in the Graduate Program at the Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University. He edits and founded the Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning and has written and edited a number of books on education topics.