Episode 6

Episode 06: Play is the Work of Children

We’ve all heard the line ‘children need structure’ repeated by many well-meaning individuals. But, is it really true? Can students learn the necessary skills for a happy, effective adult life without every minute of the day being scheduled by an adult? We at Alpine Valley School know that they can, and we have many graduate success stories to illustrate this point. On this episode, host Missa Gallivan explores how free play can be of enormous benefit to young people in finding themselves and determining their place in a community. Her guest, Jesse Alford, an AVS alum working as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, talks about all the time he spent playing and how developing games helped him shape the beginnings of a successful career, in addition to providing a happy childhood. Hear for yourself the necessity of ‘wandering’ and how a real experience of freedom day-to-day shaped Jesse into the articulate, mature, and playful person he is today.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Free to Learn by Peter Gray
• Freedom to Learn - Peter Gray’s blog on Psychology Today
• Pivotal (where Jesse works)
• Jeffrey Freed

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/sEFVA8WEvF0