Does institutionalizing our children for six hours a day, five days a week, really bring out the best in them? In this provocative book, Matt Hern argues that there are effective alternatives to school as we know it. Hern believes that local communities are in the best position to decide what kind of schooling their children need. In suggesting ways that we can leave the traditional school model behind, he sketches a future in which personal autonomy and social change go hand in hand. In the process, he shows how children thrive outside of school and make every day a field day.

Matt Hern is the director of the Purple Thistle centre, an alternative youth program in Vancouver, BC. He holds a a PhD in Urban Studies from the Union Institute. An accomplished writer and public speaker, he has written three books: Deschooling Our Lives, Field Day: Getting Society Out of School and Watch Yourself: Why Safer Isn't Always Better. He lives with his partner and two daughters in East Vancouver.

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