mi’s Reviews > The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids > Status Update

“…children have a natural tendency to take things apart. …’From a knowledge of the outside, instinct prompts the desire to know the inside, and, therefore, children usually destroy their toys.’”

“The kindergarten was to be ‘a commonwealth or republic of children, contrasted with the old-fashioned school, which is an absolute monarchy.’ The ratio of 1 adult to 1 child might do in infancy, but as children get older and more active, ‘a sufficient society of children’ was ‘the indispensable thing.’”

“[Pestalozzi’s] educational theory: that children learn best when they follow their own interests; that perception is the source of all learning; that children learn best through [physical] activity; and that ethical and moral education come from love and trust, which first develops between mother and child.”

“Positive reinforcement, capitalizing on children’s innate curiosity, replaced a system of dictation and rigid codes for good behavior.”

“…‘Good Toys,’ a catchall term for playthings that encouraged imagination, stimulated the mind, promote active play, and eschewed violence.”

“…the [constructivist] child as ‘an independent experimenter investigating a world of objects, solving the epistemological problems of space, time, causality, and categorizing.’”

“Young children learn… with teachers as guides rather than sources of information.”

"...creating a shared spatial economy centered on public education, recreation, and transportation safe and open for all [children]."

"...as they grow, many children lose opportunities to create their own environment, bounded by a text-centric view of education and concerns for safety. Despite adults' desire to create a safer, softer child-centric world, something got lost in translation."

"From the late 19th century on, [people] wanted to get children out of the city[, into private homes, and bused to suburban schools as part of an age-segregated model]. Children were to be their parents’ problem, and the building of playrooms and the purchasing of play equipment created an ideal of childhood that was privatized and consumer-driven."