u/GandgreyTheElf

"There is something profoundly deadening to a curious, engaged child about the feeling of being watched and measured, or even, some studies suggest, the anticipation of being measured. Sure, some kids seem to dig it. They preen and pose for it, they compete with their friends for it, they want to be better than everybody else. But everybody can’t be better than everybody else, and this business of being constantly scrutinized and compared to others does something insidious to the life of a child. I've seen kids drop what they're doing in an instant when they realize they're being observed in an appraising way. A wall goes up. The lights go out."

"People do not choose to fail or disappoint. No one wants to feel incapable, apathetic, or ineffective. If you look at a person’s action (or inaction) and see only laziness, you are missing key details. There is always an explanation. There are always barriers. Just because you can’t see them, or don’t view them as legitimate, doesn’t mean they’re not there. Look harder."

"What McKinley recognized is that schooling –– unlike learning –– is at its root an exercise of power. As comparative educator Margaret Sutton has suggested, “the worldwide institutionalization of children in schools may rank among the most profound forces of global cultural change of the twentieth century.” And one of the most profound aspects of this change  is not the advent of literacy and numeracy but the radical shift in the locus of power and control over learning from children, families, and communities to ever more centralized systems of authority."