Education discussions revolve around standardized testing, funding, certification—but never how to best help kids learn. Here we have some great historical and contemporary alternatives to school, demonstrating children's decreasing ability to learn as they enter school. Schools fail to teach kids to be self-directed life-learners; stifling creativity. At the same time, deschooling offers self-directed learning strategies for children, encourages community-building, builds critical thinking for active engagement and democratic self-governance, and alleviates the negative psychological effects of traditional schooling methods.