Children come into the world biologically designed to educate themselves. Their natural curiosity, playfulness, sociability, and planfulness were shaped by natural selection to serve the purpose of their education. Joy lies in the manifestation of these drives and in the discoveries and increased skills that result from them.

The most obvious benefits are children who are full of joy, full of love of learning, creative, self-directed, passionate, enthusiastic, playful, thoughtful, questioning, and curious.

OK, Self-Directed Education creates a happy childhood and adolescence, but does it lead to a happy, satisfying, productive adulthood? Can these people go on to higher education, if they wish, and do they get good jobs? The answer to all these questions is yes.

Because of changes in the economy, Self-Directed Education is even more valuable today than in the past. We no longer need many people to do the kinds of tasks that our schools are designed to teach. We don’t need people who can memorize and regurgitate lots of information; we have Google for that. We don’t need many people to do routine, tedious tasks; we have robots for that. What we do need, and will continue to need, are people who think critically and creatively, innovate, ask and answer questions that nobody else has thought of, and bring moral values and a passionate sense of purpose into the workplace. These are precisely the kinds of skills that are continuously honed in Self-Directed Education.