> I also can't help but think that our current abhorence of anything
>resembling coercion isn't necessarily (in and of itself) going to solve
anything.
> (Don't children ever need limits?)
This question about limits illustrates a common misunderstanding of educational
practices that seek to minimize unnecessary adult coercion, that children are
*not* given limits. As someone who has come out strongly against unnecessary
coercion with young children, I can state most emphatically that setting limits
does not necessarily mean coercion. However, it matters greatly *how* the
limits are set. In our book, Rheta DeVries and I state that the first
principle of constructivist education is that an atmosphere of mutual
respect must be established. When adults practice mutual respect with children,
they cooperate with children to
discuss and set the limits together, and they put a great deal of effort into
helping children to understand the necessity for particular limits. The adults
also examine critically any and all limits, in order to decide whether these
limits are indeed necessary, or if they simply represent "the ways we have
always done things."
Betty Zan
Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education
University of Northern Iowa