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THE UNDERACHIEVING SCHOOL
John Holt was born in New York City on 14 April 1923. He was educated at a number of schools in
the States and at Le Posey in Switzerland (1935-6), after which he attended the Phillips Exeter
Academy, graduating in 1939. He took a B.S. degree in Industrial Administration at Yale from 1940 to1943. Following this he served in the Submarine service of the U.S. Navy until 1946. He then worked
in various parts of the world government movement, finally as Executive Director of the New York State
branch of the United Work Federalists. On returning to the States in 1953 after traveling in Europe for
a year he caught in various schools in Colorado and Massachusetts. His publications include
How
Children Fail
and
How Children Learn
, both available in Penguins. He has also published articles and
reviews in such magazines and journals as the New York Review of Books, Book Week and Peace News
(London).
QUESTION
(from the editors of Education News, New York City):
‘If America’s schools were to take
one giant step forward this year toward a better tomorrow, what should it be?’
ANSWER:
‘It would be to let every child be the planner, director, and assessor of his own education,
to allow and encourage him, with the inspiration and guidance of more experienced and expert people,
and as much help as he asked for, to decide what he is to learn, when he is to learn it. How he
is to learn it, and how well he is learning it. It would be to make our schools, instead of what they
are, which is jails for children, into a resource for free and independent learning, which everyone in
the community, of whatever age, could use as much or as little as he wanted.’
JOHN HOLT
CONTENTS
Glossary of American Terms Used in This Book
Foreword
True Learning 3
A Little Learning 3
Schools Are Bad Places for Kids 5
The Fourth R: The Rat Race 10
Teachers Talk Too Much 12
The Tyranny of Testing 14
Not So Golden Rule Days 18
Making Children Hate Reading 19
Order and Disorder 23
Teaching the Unteachable 25
Education for the Future 26
Blackboard Bungle 32
Children in Prison 34
Comic Truth on an Urgent Problem 38
Talk 39
Letter
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
FOREWORD
The many educators and parents with whom I have talked in recent years have convinced me, by their
questions and comments that the ideas in this book are of great concern to them. The volume itself
is a collection of short pieces, many of which have appeared separately in pamphlets, magazines, and
books. In some I have made cuts; others I have substantially rewritten; the remainder have been
included in their original version. Since this collection may be useful in different ways to many people,
it seemed a good idea to make it available as quickly as possible.
Many of our schools, and many people and things in our schools, are changing rapidly. So are my
ideas as well. Thus, I have here and there added a short insertion or afterword when it seemed
necessary to take account of important changes, either in education or in my own thinking.
I would like to thank the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Doubleday, Harper’s
Magazine, Life, New York Review of Books, New York Times Magazine, the PTA Magazine, Redbook,
Sterling Institute, and Yale Alumni Magazine who first published some of these pieces and who have
made it possible for me to bring them together in this book.
J O H N HOLT
Berkeley, California
The education system in the United States of America follows this pattern -
Elementary School Kindergarten 5-year-olds
(also called First Grade 6-year-olds
Primary School) Second Grade 7-year-olds
Third Grade 8-year-olds
Fourth Grade 9-year-olds
Fifth Grade 10-year-olds
Sixth Grade 11-year-olds
Junior High School Seventh Grade 12-year-olds
Eighth Grade 13-year-olds
Ninth Grade 14-year-olds
Senior High School Tenth Grade 15-year-olds
(also called simply Eleventh Grade 16-year-olds
High School) Twelfth Grade 17-year-olds
On successful completion of the twelfth grade, the pupils graduate from high school and are given a
high-school diploma. Those who go on to higher education, whether they attend a university or a
liberal arts college, are said to be ‘at (or in) college’.
GLOSSARY OF AMERICAN TERMS USED IN THIS BOOK
afterword closing or concluding statement
attorney lawyer
Bill of Rights a formal statement of the fundamental rights of the people incorporated
in the constitution of the U.S.A.
Buck private a person belonging to the lowest grade in the military category of
private
bull-slinging nonsense
busywork active but valueless work
campus the grounds of a college or university
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