Schooling that children are forced to endure—in which the subject matter is imposed by others and the “learning” is motivated by extrinsic rewards and punishments rather than by the children’s true interests—turns learning from a joyful activity into a chore, to be avoided whenever possible. Coercive schooling, which tragically is the norm in our society, suppresses curiosity and overrides children’s natural ways of learning. It also promotes anxiety, depression and feelings of helplessness that all too often reach pathological levels.

~ Peter Gray

Peter Gray Academics Alternative Children Coercion Education Freedom Homeschooling Indoctrination Kids Learn Learning Liberty Prussian Education System State Schools Unschooling Voluntaryism

To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself--that is the first duty of the educator.

~ Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori Children Education Raising Children Schooling State Schools

If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future.

~ Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori Freedom Indoctrination Learning Psychology Schooling State Schools

No teacher has the right to cure a child of making noises on a drum. The only curing that should be practiced is the curing of unhappiness.

~ A.s. Neill

A.s. Neill Alternative Authoritarianism Childhood Choice Coercion Education Free Freedom Happiness Indoctrination Learn Learning Liberty Non Aggression Principle School Schooling State Schools Summerhill Voluntaryism

School is about learning to wait your turn, however long it takes to come, if ever. And how to submit with a show of enthusiasm to the judgment of strangers, even if they are wrong, even if your enthusiasm is phony.

~ John Taylor Gatto

John Taylor Gatto Brainwashing Education Freedom Homeschool Homeschooling Indoctrination Learning Schooling State State Schools Unschooling

The whole purpose of propaganda is to make the obvious seem obscure, or offensive

~ Stefan Molyneux

Stefan Molyneux Anarchy Government Nationalism Propaganda State State Schools Statism Voluntaryism

A person who says “every person has a right to a decent education” may not actually mean “people should be robbed to support bad schools” or “all children should be forced into a prison-like building for 12 years.

~ Jeffrey Tucker

Jeffrey Tucker Anarchy Freedom Indoctrination Liberty Schooling State Schools Statism Taxation Theft Voluntaryism

The most urgent necessity is, not that the State should teach, but that it should allow education. All monopolies are detestable, but the worst of all is the monopoly of education.

~ Frédéric Bastiat

Frédéric Bastiat Anarchy Education Freedom Libertarian Libertarianism Liberty Monopoly State Schools Statism Voluntarism Voluntaryism

One problem with the way the educational system is set up is that it only recognizes a certain type of intelligence, and it’s incredibly restrictive - very, very restrictive. There’s so many types of intelligence, and people who would be at their best outside of that structure get lost.

~ Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen Freedom School Schooling State Schools