We must abandon entirely the whole notion of scores, grades, exams, and all other competitive measures. Children need to feel a sense of accomplishment, to show others what they have produced. We must enable them to produce. What they produce ought to be visible, real accomplishments, skills or actual work products, that can be shown off, not as objects in a competition, but as a show of pride in what they can do. Hearing and needing, not listening and reading Today's schools are essentially passive experiences.
Teachers teach and children listen.
Learning is better when it is active not passive. Instruction should only occur when children express the desire to know. Every time a teacher asks children to listen they ought to ask themselves if they believe the children genuinely want to hear what they are saying. If the students don't want to hear it, they won't hear it, no matter how much we threaten them. Motivation, not resignation Children are discouraged from pursuing their own interests in school.