Can theory help us see how education can liberate in powerful new ways?

The three first-grade children from the remote village of Santa María Tzeja in Guatemala, shown here, don’t study theory, but theory can help us understand why they chose to stay in the classroom while their classmates were playing outside in their recess period.  No knock here on recess.  Kids this age learn a lot of what they need while they play and their bodies crave exercise.

But something had been happening in the learning atmosphere of the classroom that bubbled over for these three that was so enjoyable that they wanted to keep at what had turned on their curiosity.