BOOK REVIEW: How Children Fail by John Holt

Rebekah's Book Review

John Holt understands children.   If you are an educator of any kind, and that includes parents, take the time to read this book!  How are we teaching?   How do our students think?  How can I help them think?  Even with 300 pages, “How Children Fail” is a super easy read.  Holt’s conversation style and simple observations kept me glued to the pages.

If you were a poor student, you will identify with this book.  If you were a “troublesome” student who exasperated your teachers, you will identify with this book.  Because you will be reading a teacher/author who really gets you.  If you were a good student with few academic problems, your eyes will be opened.

I  really wanted to underline the whole book!  This book explores those who are not just poor students, but poor thinkers.  What is the thought process that leads them to continually get things wrong?

  The application to my homeschooling was obvious, and many concepts I was able to implement right away.  But it struck me early in the book, how much of this is applicable to all of life! As we read our Bibles and go to church and Bible studies and conferences, are we learning?  Really learning?   Am I internalizing and fully understanding the material laid before me?  Or am I just coasting through, giving the best guess/rote answers when called upon?  Do I have a way of thinking that continually gets me the “wrong answers?”