The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards"
by Alfie Kohn
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Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 371.200973
EAN: 9780395940396
ISBN: 0395940397
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 1999-09-07
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Schools Our Children Deserve
Comment: In his persuasive, well researched book, The Schools Our Children Deserve, Alfie Kohn proposes a visualization of what our classrooms should be like. Kohn explains that "raising the bar" for educational standards have actually had negative effects on schooling. Kohn argues that the traditional ways of the "Old School" are ineffective, and he offers realistic approaches to go about teaching subjects instead of the back-to-basics ways.
The first paragraph of the book depicts a child's learning experience today; the child completes a significant amount of worksheets and homework, she studies to get good scores on high standardized tests, she is quizzed regularly, and she raises her hand in class in order to speak because the teacher is in control of the classroom. This portrayal of a classroom is familiar to almost everyone who has attended school in America. Kohn debates that this kind of instruction is wrong. "Traditional schooling turns out to be as unproductive as it is unappealing." Instead we should be demanding nontraditional classrooms where student learning is active as opposed to passive. Curriculum should be "organized around broad themes, connected to real issues," so students can understand ideas in their entirety.
In Chapter 9, Getting The 3 R's Right, Kohn communicates how math is often taught to students by methods of repetition, memorization, and drills. These standard approaches to learning math facts, with step-by-step procedures and formulas, are unsuccessful. Kohn writes, "Kids can do calculations without even really knowing what they are doing." Then if the students have trouble coming to a correct solution, teachers continue to further their instruction of the same failed procedure. Kohn describes the failure of this type direct phonics instruction. Instead of the "drill and skill" method of teaching math, teachers should encourage students to "write and talk about their ideas, to understand the underlying concepts and be able to put them into words". Kohn mentions that math classes should promote thinking in order for students to grasp the concepts.
In his book Kohn also discusses principles such as "constructivism" where teachers act as a compass; guiding students in the right direction, but at the same time letting the students travel down their own, individual paths. Teachers should draw on students' interests and experiences when creating lesson plans, because students learn best when they can build on things they already know. Lessons should include group work activity and critical thinking. Kohn expresses his strong opposition to high stakes examinations with the reasoning that the increasing importance placed on "accountability" makes it difficult for teachers to conduct a student-centered classroom. Also, most of the tests "don't look for a deep understanding of ideas; they just measure how well students have memorized a bunch of words or facts."
The Schools Our Children Deserve is a well organized book that is definitely worth reading, especially for parents, educators, and students. Readers will learn how our current schooling methods are failing and how changing our traditional classrooms to progressive ones can help significantly. In schools, the learners' interests should be taken into consideration. Students should be motivated and want to learn, and Kohn describes the necessary changes we have to make, in order for that to become a reality.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A few interesting ideas, but vast majority not practical
Comment: Reading this book, I got the distinct impression that in his schools, everyone would spend time reinventing the wheel, dropping apples to test the force of gravity, and so forth. For him it is simply terrible for a teacher to just tell you something (that you didn't know). If you take his premise to be fact, you shouldn't be reading his books, or any other books either, because they are a form of direct instruction, and direct instruction is bad.
Kohn mentions (in the reference notes) one teacher complaining that students weren't interested in the subject matter (history, current events) because they said they "wouldn't need the information in their future jobs" and trots out the tired argument of schools being nothing more than preparation for the workplace.
What's wrong with that argument? Simple. It is the TEACHER who has total control over making a subject interesting or not. ANY subject can be interesting if the right teacher is teaching it. We have too many non-math and non-science teachers teaching those subjects, and it shows! As for history, look at how many Civil War reenactors there are, not to mention the success of Renaissance Faires and organizations such as the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). If a teacher were to use those examples for the basis of a lesson, you would have interested students.
Also, one major drawback to his book is that he doesn't seem to have any notion of what children should be learning as far as any kind of body of knowledge. What should our children be learning?
Bottom line, I found that his book seemed to be a much better argument for homeschooling, and unschooling in particular, rather than sending your children to any public or private school. I did agree with him about programs like Book It! and Accelerated Reader being terrible, but for me the reason is that these programs promote junk books and TV/movie tie-in books instead of classic, challenging literature.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Other Side of No Child Left Behind (or untested)
Comment: Not only am I a teacher, but I am a product of the kind of public school for which Alfie Kohn advocates. We definitely and desperately need this voice in the debate over education. I fully approve of his regime. I was not a terrifically motivated kid, academically speaking, before entering Kindergarten, but during my elementary education grew to become a highly self-motivated and intense learner. I not only had projects and assignments at school (which included research papers and even some traditional math work), but was constantly engaged in projects at home (teaching myself French, extremely engrossed in geography, reading articles of interest from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, and designing board games with highly complex probabilities.) Many of my classmates had similar experiences. My school was a public school in an unremarkable, middle-class suburb. Kohn's argument results in the kind of education I got up to 6th grade. We took the standardized tests, and did as well or better than neighboring schools on average. What's all the fear about?
Read this book. If you are a parent or educator, you REALLY need to read this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Standardized Testing Revealed
Comment: When asked what a set of national standards should look like, former U.S. commissioner of education, Harold Howe II, stated, "They should be as vague as possible". Alfie Kohn makes a powerful stance against the use of specific standards and standardized testing in his book, The Schools Our Children Deserve.
Education heads the news around the nation today. Everywhere you hear the cry for tougher standards for teachers and students, and accountability for schools and districts. Headlines scream that American children are falling behind their counterparts in other countries. The solution: an educational system that is `back to basics' and has `tougher standards'. Is this the answer? Alfie Kohn states a resounding `No'.
Mr. Kohn's book takes you on a journey to explore how the American educational system is really doing. He then presents standardized tests for what they are: norm-referenced tests in which 50% of all children taking the test will fail. Kohn dissects how the tests are created and changed from year to year, indicating that if too many students get an answer correct, it is thrown out of the test. He delves into how standardized test scores are published in newspapers, and used by the government and school districts to hold schools and teachers hostage. He shows how the use of such scores are creating an educational community that teaches to the test, is devoid of meaningful learning, and does not address the needs of the individual child.
The Schools Our Children Deserve is written for parents and educators alike. It aims to educate its readers, so that they can become informed participants in the design of the schools our children deserve.
W.Joy Lopez
Pepperdine University Doctoral Student
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nancy Haas, Educational Tech. Doctorial Student , Pepperdine
Comment: In light of President Bush's recent signing of a national educational plan that promotes standards and high-stakes testing, The Schools Our Children Deserve offers readers insights into social, economic, and moral consequences of these policies. An easy read with plenty of data and thought provoking questions, Kohn challenges these trends to objectify students and teachers through a careful analysis of the process and consequences of these policies.
One of the myths perpetuated by politicians and businesspeople, is that raising school standards and high-stakes testing will improve learning. Kohn examines the historical context of the myth within the system. He offers readers data and research that contradict the myth. He has organized the book to examine the destructive nature of implementing standards based education and high testing through a variety of lens: social, emotional, and economic.
With an emphasis on grades and competitive test scores that rank students, teachers, and schools, Kohn argues that education has shifted away from student-centered learning. Schools forced to implement standardize curriculum to support high stakes testing have objectified students and teachers. The consequences of these policies results in a curriculum that lacks authentic context and educational goals that are based on grades and test results.
The impact on teachers forced to implement rigid curriculum that changes the role of classroom teachers to classroom technicians whose only responsibility is to transmit facts and data through transmission teaching. The impact on children is a misguided educational experience that may have long term emotional and psychological reprucussions. With an emphasis on scores, rigid and mediocre curriculum is designed to improve tests scores but fail to offer students an authentic and engaging learning experience. The reader is reminded that the cost of focusing on "how well" students are doing verses "what" they're doing results in a disintegration of student's interest and motivation. With an emphasis on student grades and school scores, the purpose of education is no longer about providing an authentic learning experience for child, it is about test scores and ranking.
Because of the impact that high stake testing has on schools and children, Kohn takes time to examine the variations in testing formats, inequalities, and failures. Since high-stakes tests are norm-reference, he provides readers with an understanding of how these test are used and the consequences awaiting 50% of the testing population that are predestined to fail.
Kohn offers compelling arguments to rethink these practices and the purpose of education. If we want to focus on test scores that rank students, standardized curriculums and high-stakes testing will fill the bill. However, if our goal is to create meaningful, authentic learning experiences for our children, these policies must be challenged and abandoned.
This book not only informs the reader, but it places a moral responsibility on each of us to become more informed and involved with the purpose of learning in our schools. Kohn's agenda is simple. He is not a politician looking for votes. He is an advocate for children. Kohn is promoting authentic learning opportunities that respect the natural curiosity and motivation of children.
After reading this book, Kohn places a moral responsibility on all of us to become informed, involved, and pro-active in the development of schools that our children deserve.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Schools Our Children Deserve
Comment: In his persuasive, well researched book, The Schools Our Children Deserve, Alfie Kohn proposes a visualization of what our classrooms should be like. Kohn explains that "raising the bar" for educational standards have actually had negative effects on schooling. Kohn argues that the traditional ways of the "Old School" are ineffective, and he offers realistic approaches to go about teaching subjects instead of the back-to-basics ways.
The first paragraph of the book depicts a child's learning experience today; the child completes a significant amount of worksheets and homework, she studies to get good scores on high standardized tests, she is quizzed regularly, and she raises her hand in class in order to speak because the teacher is in control of the classroom. This portrayal of a classroom is familiar to almost everyone who has attended school in America. Kohn debates that this kind of instruction is wrong. "Traditional schooling turns out to be as unproductive as it is unappealing." Instead we should be demanding nontraditional classrooms where student learning is active as opposed to passive. Curriculum should be "organized around broad themes, connected to real issues," so students can understand ideas in their entirety.
In Chapter 9, Getting The 3 R's Right, Kohn communicates how math is often taught to students by methods of repetition, memorization, and drills. These standard approaches to learning math facts, with step-by-step procedures and formulas, are unsuccessful. Kohn writes, "Kids can do calculations without even really knowing what they are doing." Then if the students have trouble coming to a correct solution, teachers continue to further their instruction of the same failed procedure. Kohn describes the failure of this type direct phonics instruction. Instead of the "drill and skill" method of teaching math, teachers should encourage students to "write and talk about their ideas, to understand the underlying concepts and be able to put them into words". Kohn mentions that math classes should promote thinking in order for students to grasp the concepts.
In his book Kohn also discusses principles such as "constructivism" where teachers act as a compass; guiding students in the right direction, but at the same time letting the students travel down their own, individual paths. Teachers should draw on students' interests and experiences when creating lesson plans, because students learn best when they can build on things they already know. Lessons should include group work activity and critical thinking. Kohn expresses his strong opposition to high stakes examinations with the reasoning that the increasing importance placed on "accountability" makes it difficult for teachers to conduct a student-centered classroom. Also, most of the tests "don't look for a deep understanding of ideas; they just measure how well students have memorized a bunch of words or facts."
The Schools Our Children Deserve is a well organized book that is definitely worth reading, especially for parents, educators, and students. Readers will learn how our current schooling methods are failing and how changing our traditional classrooms to progressive ones can help significantly. In schools, the learners' interests should be taken into consideration. Students should be motivated and want to learn, and Kohn describes the necessary changes we have to make, in order for that to become a reality.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A few interesting ideas, but vast majority not practical
Comment: Reading this book, I got the distinct impression that in his schools, everyone would spend time reinventing the wheel, dropping apples to test the force of gravity, and so forth. For him it is simply terrible for a teacher to just tell you something (that you didn't know). If you take his premise to be fact, you shouldn't be reading his books, or any other books either, because they are a form of direct instruction, and direct instruction is bad.
Kohn mentions (in the reference notes) one teacher complaining that students weren't interested in the subject matter (history, current events) because they said they "wouldn't need the information in their future jobs" and trots out the tired argument of schools being nothing more than preparation for the workplace.
What's wrong with that argument? Simple. It is the TEACHER who has total control over making a subject interesting or not. ANY subject can be interesting if the right teacher is teaching it. We have too many non-math and non-science teachers teaching those subjects, and it shows! As for history, look at how many Civil War reenactors there are, not to mention the success of Renaissance Faires and organizations such as the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). If a teacher were to use those examples for the basis of a lesson, you would have interested students.
Also, one major drawback to his book is that he doesn't seem to have any notion of what children should be learning as far as any kind of body of knowledge. What should our children be learning?
Bottom line, I found that his book seemed to be a much better argument for homeschooling, and unschooling in particular, rather than sending your children to any public or private school. I did agree with him about programs like Book It! and Accelerated Reader being terrible, but for me the reason is that these programs promote junk books and TV/movie tie-in books instead of classic, challenging literature.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Other Side of No Child Left Behind (or untested)
Comment: Not only am I a teacher, but I am a product of the kind of public school for which Alfie Kohn advocates. We definitely and desperately need this voice in the debate over education. I fully approve of his regime. I was not a terrifically motivated kid, academically speaking, before entering Kindergarten, but during my elementary education grew to become a highly self-motivated and intense learner. I not only had projects and assignments at school (which included research papers and even some traditional math work), but was constantly engaged in projects at home (teaching myself French, extremely engrossed in geography, reading articles of interest from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, and designing board games with highly complex probabilities.) Many of my classmates had similar experiences. My school was a public school in an unremarkable, middle-class suburb. Kohn's argument results in the kind of education I got up to 6th grade. We took the standardized tests, and did as well or better than neighboring schools on average. What's all the fear about?
Read this book. If you are a parent or educator, you REALLY need to read this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Standardized Testing Revealed
Comment: When asked what a set of national standards should look like, former U.S. commissioner of education, Harold Howe II, stated, "They should be as vague as possible". Alfie Kohn makes a powerful stance against the use of specific standards and standardized testing in his book, The Schools Our Children Deserve.
Education heads the news around the nation today. Everywhere you hear the cry for tougher standards for teachers and students, and accountability for schools and districts. Headlines scream that American children are falling behind their counterparts in other countries. The solution: an educational system that is `back to basics' and has `tougher standards'. Is this the answer? Alfie Kohn states a resounding `No'.
Mr. Kohn's book takes you on a journey to explore how the American educational system is really doing. He then presents standardized tests for what they are: norm-referenced tests in which 50% of all children taking the test will fail. Kohn dissects how the tests are created and changed from year to year, indicating that if too many students get an answer correct, it is thrown out of the test. He delves into how standardized test scores are published in newspapers, and used by the government and school districts to hold schools and teachers hostage. He shows how the use of such scores are creating an educational community that teaches to the test, is devoid of meaningful learning, and does not address the needs of the individual child.
The Schools Our Children Deserve is written for parents and educators alike. It aims to educate its readers, so that they can become informed participants in the design of the schools our children deserve.
W.Joy Lopez
Pepperdine University Doctoral Student
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nancy Haas, Educational Tech. Doctorial Student , Pepperdine
Comment: In light of President Bush's recent signing of a national educational plan that promotes standards and high-stakes testing, The Schools Our Children Deserve offers readers insights into social, economic, and moral consequences of these policies. An easy read with plenty of data and thought provoking questions, Kohn challenges these trends to objectify students and teachers through a careful analysis of the process and consequences of these policies.
One of the myths perpetuated by politicians and businesspeople, is that raising school standards and high-stakes testing will improve learning. Kohn examines the historical context of the myth within the system. He offers readers data and research that contradict the myth. He has organized the book to examine the destructive nature of implementing standards based education and high testing through a variety of lens: social, emotional, and economic.
With an emphasis on grades and competitive test scores that rank students, teachers, and schools, Kohn argues that education has shifted away from student-centered learning. Schools forced to implement standardize curriculum to support high stakes testing have objectified students and teachers. The consequences of these policies results in a curriculum that lacks authentic context and educational goals that are based on grades and test results.
The impact on teachers forced to implement rigid curriculum that changes the role of classroom teachers to classroom technicians whose only responsibility is to transmit facts and data through transmission teaching. The impact on children is a misguided educational experience that may have long term emotional and psychological reprucussions. With an emphasis on scores, rigid and mediocre curriculum is designed to improve tests scores but fail to offer students an authentic and engaging learning experience. The reader is reminded that the cost of focusing on "how well" students are doing verses "what" they're doing results in a disintegration of student's interest and motivation. With an emphasis on student grades and school scores, the purpose of education is no longer about providing an authentic learning experience for child, it is about test scores and ranking.
Because of the impact that high stake testing has on schools and children, Kohn takes time to examine the variations in testing formats, inequalities, and failures. Since high-stakes tests are norm-reference, he provides readers with an understanding of how these test are used and the consequences awaiting 50% of the testing population that are predestined to fail.
Kohn offers compelling arguments to rethink these practices and the purpose of education. If we want to focus on test scores that rank students, standardized curriculums and high-stakes testing will fill the bill. However, if our goal is to create meaningful, authentic learning experiences for our children, these policies must be challenged and abandoned.
This book not only informs the reader, but it places a moral responsibility on each of us to become more informed and involved with the purpose of learning in our schools. Kohn's agenda is simple. He is not a politician looking for votes. He is an advocate for children. Kohn is promoting authentic learning opportunities that respect the natural curiosity and motivation of children.
After reading this book, Kohn places a moral responsibility on all of us to become informed, involved, and pro-active in the development of schools that our children deserve.
In this "lively, provocative and well-researched book" (Theodore Sizer), AlÞe Kohn builds a powerful argument against the "back to basics" philosophy of teaching and simplistic demands to "raise the bar." Drawing on stories from real classrooms and extensive research, Kohn shows parents, educators, and others interested in the debate how schools can help students explore ideas rather than filling them with forgettable facts and preparing them for standardized tests. Here at last is a book that challenges the two dominant forces in American education: an aggressive nostalgia for traditional teaching ("If it was bad enough for me, it"s bad enough for my kids") and a heavy-handed push for Tougher Standards.
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