Your son wakes you up bright and early – “Mom, I’m ready to get started.” Instead of taking out his math and science textbooks, he brings up an e-book on the computer on how to build hot rods. Instead of writing out multiple pages of division problems, he creates fascinating […]

Of the 3.2 million high school students who graduated in early 2012, about 2.1 million were enrolled in college that October, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the father of a 2013 graduate, it’s normal for you to want your daughter to be one of the 66.2 percent preparing for college. […]

By Peter Gray The monsters under the bed are real. Infants and young children in our culture regularly protest going to bed.  They make all sorts of excuses. They say they are not tired, when in fact they obviously are tired. They say they are hungry, or thirsty, or need to […]

Creativity blossoms in a non-controlling, non-judgmental environment. Published on October 16, 2012 by Peter Gray in Freedom to Learn In my last post I wrote of evidence that children’s creativity has declined over the past two or three decades, a period during which children’s lives, both in and out of school, have become increasingly controlled and regulated […]

Unlink WASHINGTON, D.C. – More parents than ever before are choosing to homeschool their children, driving a movement that’s grown by 62 percent in the last decade. The National Catholic Register reports that recent data from the U.S. Department of Education shows explosive growth in homeschooling among American families, particularly in […]

Kindergarten and preschool teachers everywhere are struggling to preserve play. by Peter Gray The war against childhood continues.  Children are no longer generally free to roam, play, and explore on their own, as they were in the past and are designed by nature to do (here). Parents who allow such play are being arrested (here andhere(link is external)).  […]

Academic skills are best learned when a person wants them and needs them. by Peter Gray In my last post I summarized research indicating that early academic training produces long-term harm. Now, in this post, I will delve a bit into the question of how that might happen.  It's useful here to distinguish […]

Simply being a good dad. Credit: Bike fix by Shutterstock Dads toss their kiddos in the air, they roughhouse, and they're always game for a water-balloon fight. Those may be stereotypes about Daddy's brand of parenting, but they have some basis in reality, at least according to research. Thousands of studies […]

Research reveals negative effects of academic preschools and kindergartens. By Peter Gray on May 05, 2015 in Freedom to Learn Many preschool and kindergarten teachers have told me that they are extremely upset—some to the point of being ready to resign—by the increased pressure on them to teach academic skills to little children […]

Digital technology, and those who have grown up with it, are forcing the venerable lecture to adapt to the times. uniinnsbruck/Flickr, CC BY-NC Enlarge The idea that teachers should teach and students should listen presumes that teachers know more than their students. While this was generally true back when textbooks where a rarity, and may […]