As codirector of the Albany Free School, Chris
Mercogliano has had remarkable success in helping a diverse population
of youngsters find their way in the world. He regrets, however, that
most kids' lives are subject to some form of control from dawn until
dusk.
Lamenting risk-averse parents, overstructured school days, and a lack
of playtime and solitude, Mercogliano argues that we are robbing our
young people of "that precious, irreplaceable period in their lives
that nature has set aside for exploration and innocent discovery,"
leaving them ill-equipped to face adulthood. The "domestication of
childhood" squeezes the adventure out of kids' lives and threatens to
smother the spark that animates each child with talents, dreams, and
inclinations.
There is plenty that those involved with children can do to protect
their spontaneity and exuberance. We can address their desperate thirst
for knowledge, give them space to learn from their mistakes, and let
them explore what their place in the adult world might be.
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In Defense of
Childhood
Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness
by Chris Mercogliano
Beacon Press,
2007
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a copy
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