John Holt
Also known as John Caldwell Holt
American educator (1923 to 1985) who championed homeschooling and unschooling.
At a glance
Main ideas
Children love to learn, Unschooling, Youth rights
See all 3Books to start with
How Children Fail, How Children Learn, Escape from Childhood …
See all 4Connections
Deschooling Society and How Children Fail
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Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Holt was a teacher and author who came to believe that schools damage children's natural desire to learn.
- His books How Children Fail (1964) and How Children Learn (1967) made him a well-known critic of American schooling.
- Concluding that schools could not be reformed, he advocated homeschooling and the approach later called unschooling.
- He was also a pioneer of youth rights.
Why it matters
- He is the founding figure of the unschooling movement and one of the most influential critics of conventional schooling.
Key facts
- Born
- 14 Apr 1923, New York City1
- Died
- 14 Sep 19851
- Education
- Phillips Exeter Academy; Yale, industrial engineering (1943)1
- Navy
- Served on the submarine USS Barbero in World War II; discharged 19461
- Teaching
- Colorado Rocky Mountain School from 1953; Shady Hill School (1957 to 1958); Lesley Ellis School (1959)1
- Founded
- Growing Without Schooling, America's first home education newsletter, in 19771
Main ideas
Books to start with
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
Connections
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
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The line under a date fills as time passes: empty when new, then one equal share each for a day, a week, a month and a year. For episodes and other items it is full at 2 years; for "last checked", at a year. A striped line means the date is known only to the month or year.