Self-Directed Education
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If children are to grow up to be responsible adults who contribute to the development of an ideal society, they need to feel able to ask questions of their own rather than simply learning the answers to other people’s questions. This idea is expanded, and examples are given of places where such an approach has been adopted. Gribble argues against school as a structure whose primary purpose is to prepare children to fit into society. Speaking critically about traditional education and established Self-Directed spaces such as Summerhill and Sands, he makes the point that each unique child comes into our world not to just fit into it, but to make it a better place. This is a lightly edited transcript of a talk given by David Gribble at a conference on Challenging Learner Voice, organized by Futurelab at Warwick University on October 23rd 2008.