- we need to give children time to explore, to enjoy solitude, and be bored, so that they can discover who they are and what draws their attention
- attention is utterly destroyed by screen use which scatters deep attention and prolonged engagement needed to develop skills and passions (see my TikTok Brain cure with three ingredients)
- we need to give them attention as parents, putting aside our own devices,showing our children that they are worth our time and undivided attention
“Was it possible I had been hired not to enlarge children’s power, but to diminish it? That seemed crazy on the face of it, but slowly I began to realize that the bells and the confinement, the crazy sequences, the age segregation, the lack of privacy, the constant surveillance, and all the rest of the national curriculum of schooling were designed exactly as if someone had set out to prevent children from learning how to think and act, to coax them into addiction and dependent behavior.”
Fantastic essay and something that I have tried to pursue with my sons in the 5 years we have been homeschooling them.
This was really good reading.
SPOT ON!
Thanks for this excellent, thorough article!
Attention is key on different levels:
- we need to give children time to explore, to enjoy solitude, and be bored, so that they can discover who they are and what draws their attention
- attention is utterly destroyed by screen use which scatters deep attention and prolonged engagement needed to develop skills and passions (see my TikTok Brain cure with three ingredients)
- we need to give them attention as parents, putting aside our own devices,showing our children that they are worth our time and undivided attention
I recently published a post "How to Train Sheeple - A crash course in John Taylor Gatto's educational Machine resistance" which echoes many of the points raised in your post https://schooloftheunconformed.substack.com/p/how-to-train-sheeple
“Was it possible I had been hired not to enlarge children’s power, but to diminish it? That seemed crazy on the face of it, but slowly I began to realize that the bells and the confinement, the crazy sequences, the age segregation, the lack of privacy, the constant surveillance, and all the rest of the national curriculum of schooling were designed exactly as if someone had set out to prevent children from learning how to think and act, to coax them into addiction and dependent behavior.”
Thanks again:)