Written by F. A. Harper, as published in The Voluntaryist, April 1992. The advantages of an open society on a world basis have been explored to only a slight degree and would seem to deserve much more thought as a solution for solving major international problems. To see its potential, one might think of how…
Category: Editor’s Picks
The Many Monopolies
Written by Charles Johnson, as published at the Center for a Stateless Society. We libertarians defend economic freedom, not big business. We advocate free markets, not the corporate economy. And what would freed markets look like? Nothing like the controlled markets we have today. But how often do we hear mass unemployment, financial crisis, ecological…
Unsolicited Evaluation Is the Enemy of Creativity
Written by Peter Gray for Psychology Today. Longitudinal research has shown that children raised by parents who are relatively non-directive and non-judgmental exhibit more creativity later on than do those raised by relatively directive, judgmental parents. In a classic study, conducted in the 1970s and ‘80s, David Harrington, Jeanne Block, and Jack Block assessed the…
Traditional Human Wisdom of Child Development
Written by Cooper Zale for Lefty Parent. Once the hunter-gatherer child no longer needs to “ride” and can walk and speak for themselves, they are generally granted an autonomy that a society like ours (what Diamond calls a “state society”) might well consider criminal child neglect.Read the full thing »
Legitimacy
Written by Robert Higgs for The Independent Institute. What is the difference between a government and a criminal gang or protection racket such as the mafia? In a word, it is legitimacy. In practice, this vague notion suggests that people view the government—its institutional composition, its personnel, and its conduct—as morally acceptable or proper, whereas…
School is Bad for Children
Written by John Holt, as published at NaturalChild.org. Almost every child, on the first day he sets foot in a school building, is smarter, more curious, less afraid of what he doesn’t know, better at finding and figuring things out, and more confident, resourceful, persistent and independent than he will ever be again in his…
How do Unschooling Parents Know their Children are Learning?
Written by Jan Hunt for NaturalChild.org. In unschooling, the child’s current interests are followed, and the parents act not as teachers but as tutors and resource assistants. This approach is often misunderstood, because it is based on assumptions that are quite different from those implicit in conventional schooling.Read the full thing »
Voluntary Slavery and Lawful Consent
Written by Clayton for The Voluntaryist Reader. If you were to bring a contract to an arbitration hearing that had been signed under duress, the contract would be viewed as null and void because it had been signed under duress. It is not evidence of an agreement because no agreement was ever made or reached…
Decoding Your Child’s SOS
Written by Laura Markham for Aha! Parenting. You’ve probably heard the term “Acting out’ refer to misbehaving. It actually means to act out a feeling that you can’t express in words. So when your three year old hits the baby, or your five year old throws a toy at you, or your seven year old…
The Power of the Individual
Written by Doris Lessing, as published in The Voluntaryist, February 1992. It is particularly hard for young people, faced with what seem like impervious walls of obstacles, to have belief in their ability to change things, to keep their personal and individual viewpoints intact. I remember very clearly how it seemed to me in my…