This week the issue of Trust has been coming up a lot, especially in two areas: trusting children’s emotions and trusting that children can and will take responsibility for their own education when supported to do so.

Tragically, the failure of the latter often leads to the failure of the former. I alluded to that in the article I mentioned last week, The Jekyll and Hyde Syndrome, and that article led to a new Q&A that I posted this week: “Please understand me!“

Both areas of trusting — children’s emotions and children’s education — fall under the category of trusting human nature. Nothing is more natural than a child’s instinct to self-educate, and nothing is more natural than for children to react emotionally when their parents and teachers treat them in ways that belie their culturally conditioned mistrust.

Can children really be entrusted with their own education?

If you’re curious about self-directed education (SDE) — perhaps wondering how such a thing is even possible — I highly recommend you watch this 15-minute speech by Peter Gray. Not only does Peter explain why humans are evolved for SDE, he also describes a modern alternative school that supports SDE and has proven that schools can be redesigned to work with children’s natural educational instincts rather than opposing them.

What do YOU think about the ideas in Peter’s presentation? Send your feedback to This Email Address [error]

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