“F**king amazing!” in fact, is how bestselling author and TED Talk favorite Johann Hari describes The Let Grow Project.
We met when he came to New York to research his new book, “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — And How to Think Deeply Again.” Together we visited two schools — one well-off, the other a Title 1 / high poverty school — where kids were doing The Project. That is, they’d been given the homework assignment, “Go home and do something new, on your own, without your parents!”
You can watch the middle schoolers here (a 2-minute video), and the elementary school kids in an equally short video here. In both, you’ll see what Hari noticed: Kids who seem excited and engaged, as if somehow they’d gotten back on track.
Their focus seems just dandy. Hop over to Let Grow to read a bit more about Johann’s impressions of these kids. Or listen to this clip (go to 56 minutes in) of him on Andrew Sullivan’s podcast, saying that the Project was “f**king amazing!”