Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track

13. A New Look at Schools K–12

From our discussion, it can be seen that the ideal environment for people to become educated should have the following characteristics:

• Learning takes place through self-motivation and self-regulation. People should be able to learn what they are eager to learn, on their own initiative, and what they are ready to work hard at. They should be free to choose their sources, their materials, and where they feel a need, their teachers. It should be a setting in which students are independent and are treated as responsible human beings.

• Equal status is given to all interests. The idea that one activity, or one subject, is inherently superior or preferable to another—the basis of all predetermined curricula—has no ...