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.