Lately I’ve grown particularly interested in the subject of learning. If you’re interested in a not-so-mainstream take on learning and childhood development, I encourage you to check out the following:
Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods, 2008
New York Times: Can the Right Kinds of Play Teach Self-Control, 2009
New York Times: For Forest Kindergartners, Class is Back to Nature, Rain or Shine, 2009
Harper’s Magazine: Against School: How public education cripples our kids, and why, 2003 (here’s a version that doesn’t require subscription)
4 minute video from TED: Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering, 2009
19 minute video from TED: Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity, 2006
John Taylor Gatto’s The Underground History of American Education, 2001 (I’m about a third of the way into this one, and am growing more concerned with every page)
Next on my reading list is Ivan Illich’s 1971 book Deschooling Society. Clearly, I’m exposing myself to mostly contrarian works. If you have some resources that support more conventional schooling ideas, please share them.
Geoffrey Graham 
Bryan Caplan liked “Free-Range Kids”.