Education as a self-organizing system

Photo by TEFL International

Found on Luis Suarez's Blog, the following TED talk about children collaborating in a self-organized way really gets the juices flowing. It is such a foreign concept. Can children learn without being taught? Of course they can! Are we prepared to let them learn in this way, in their own, collaboratively curious way?

I know I struggle with my little girl, my sweet 17-month-old. I want her to learn on her own, through play, through exploring her world. At the same time, I know that she will be in school some day (or home-schooled?) and there will be certain things she HAS to learn.

Yet again, the pieces of the puzzle that seem to draw attention to themselves are TRUST - trusting in our own natural ability to learn - and CONTROL. Can (Should!?) we attempt to control what children learn?