John Holt

The most important thing any teacher has to learn, not to be learned in any school of education I ever heard of, can be expressed in seven words: Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners...

How Children Learn is a book by educator John Holt, first published in 1967. A revised edition was released in 1983 with new chapters and commentaries.

The book focuses on Holt's interactions with young children, and his observations of children learning. From these experiences he attempts to make sense of how and why children do the things they do. The central thesis of his work is that children learn most effectively by their own motivation and on their own terms. He opposes teaching in general, believing that children find it just as patronizing as would an adult, and that parents should only provide information as it is requested.

Children learn best when they are not pressured to learn in a way that is of no interest to them. For example, the first thing all educators should do is evaluate which type of multiple intelligence students' possess and teach and assess them individually on the basis of this.