At great risk of upsetting all of my dear family and friends who are public school teachers, I discuss a book I recently read. I just have to respect a guy who is willing to take a stand. Today that someone is John Taylor Gatto, author of Dumbing us Down and Weapons of Mass Instruction, New York City Teacher of the Year, 30 year veteran of public school instruction. He now has devoted his life to fighting for school reform. His latest book, Weapons of Mass Instruction, was a real eye opener for me.
I’ll give you two reasons to read this book
1. Most likely you have been to public school yourself or you have children or grandchildren in public school – and you ought to hear his ‘insider’ side of the story.
2. It is highly entertaining. More entertaining than anything you will watch on your flat screen tonight. It is funny, violent, inspiring, full of intrigue and conspiracy and there is plenty of drama. In fact, I am willing to bet that at some point it will make you cry. Gatto is hoping it will make you mad. Mad enough to want to act.
Everything you know about school is wrong. That is the title of the first chapter. This newest revelation in the schooling world is full of research, experience and stories to illustrate his strong opinion of what is happening and what should be done. He doesn’t apologize for his stand, he doesn’t sugar coat his ideas. If you pick up this book you will get some straight talkin’.
Here are just a few of his points:
1. Education is essential.
2. Schooling gets in the way of what is essential.
3. Only you can educate yourself.
4. Modern schooling was specifically designed for a purpose and it is fulfilling that purpose very well: creating consumers.
There is little point in arguing that we have an education problem in our country. We do. Some of the more recent school reforms have done nothing to help and have only tied the hands of dedicated teachers and further squelched the enthusiasm of students. We have a problem and we need to man up and do something about it. After reading Gatto’s books I feel absolutely certain we have the wrong people at the head of education in America. Let’s replace Arne Duncan with John Taylor Gatto. It won’t happen because I am positive Gatto won’t stand for Chicago politics messing with this nation’s children…even if their parents think it will bring hope and change . Or why don’t we oust Kevin Jennings, czar of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, founder of GLSEN (What is GLSEN??? Click here: http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/about/history/index.html?state=about&type=about) and director while this recommended reading list for your publicly schooled children between grade 7 and 12 was compiled (Warning, some of the content is very explicit: http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/booklink/7-12.html).
But wait, I slip back into my box-like thinking. One of Gatto’s points is that fixing things within the system isn’t going to work. It’s the system itself that is getting in the way of true educational reform. Why? When you are at the top, you just don’t want to change things. And the system and methods of American education are designed to promote the consumerism our society is convinced is necessary for survival. Throwing 4.5 billion into a race to the top is really just the same spin over again to get the public thinking something is being done. And it is. Your money is being spent on a system that will help millions of children discover they really hate learning.
Have you read Gatto’s books? What are some of your ideas for changing the face of American education?
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Kate Becoming
Author Gene Stratton-Porter was delightfully skilled in the art of character development. She had a gift for walking a character right through the trials of life to be worked upon and end up reaching the full measure of their character – for good or for bad. Her work is splendid.
Daughter of the Land is a story about Kate Bates, a woman with a dream. She is a woman living in a man’s world with a mind for business and a strong work ethic, but life has a way of sending trials. Kate Bates is so real, so fallible, and so strong. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “So Kate ‘cut that idea out’ at once, but the operation was painful, because when one turns mental surgeon and operates on the ugly spots in one’s disposition, there is no anesthetic, nor is the work done with skillful hands, so the wounds are numerous and leave ugly scars; but Kate was ruthless.” I love Kate for it. She sees her own weakness, and takes it head on. She sees where she has made mistakes. Mistakes that most people use as an excuse not to make anything of themselves, but Kate takes on her ‘ugly spots’ and makes them shine.
As often as not I wanted to throw this book across the room. Reading about hard knocks can be painful. But I hung in there and was rewarded with the final idea that “the more we get hurt in this world the decenter it makes us...it really seems as if failure and hardship make more of a human being of folks than success.” I am enjoying pondering that idea. All success and no failure or hardship doesn’t stretch us to become. Kate is an example of becoming.
My one caution and warning is that the edition I purchased from Amazon is not edited well. It can be irritating to read so many errors! Stratton-Porter has written other marvelous books. I can heartily recommend Laddie, Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost as well as A Daughter of the Land. If you are in the mood for a lovely healing book, pick up something by Stratton-Porter. Some of the most prevalent values in our country, once so common and now nearly extinct are oozing from her books. It is a delight to spend some time reading about salt of the earth people who win at life in spite of adversity that seems nearly impossible to overcome.
Daughter of the Land is a story about Kate Bates, a woman with a dream. She is a woman living in a man’s world with a mind for business and a strong work ethic, but life has a way of sending trials. Kate Bates is so real, so fallible, and so strong. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “So Kate ‘cut that idea out’ at once, but the operation was painful, because when one turns mental surgeon and operates on the ugly spots in one’s disposition, there is no anesthetic, nor is the work done with skillful hands, so the wounds are numerous and leave ugly scars; but Kate was ruthless.” I love Kate for it. She sees her own weakness, and takes it head on. She sees where she has made mistakes. Mistakes that most people use as an excuse not to make anything of themselves, but Kate takes on her ‘ugly spots’ and makes them shine.
As often as not I wanted to throw this book across the room. Reading about hard knocks can be painful. But I hung in there and was rewarded with the final idea that “the more we get hurt in this world the decenter it makes us...it really seems as if failure and hardship make more of a human being of folks than success.” I am enjoying pondering that idea. All success and no failure or hardship doesn’t stretch us to become. Kate is an example of becoming.
My one caution and warning is that the edition I purchased from Amazon is not edited well. It can be irritating to read so many errors! Stratton-Porter has written other marvelous books. I can heartily recommend Laddie, Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost as well as A Daughter of the Land. If you are in the mood for a lovely healing book, pick up something by Stratton-Porter. Some of the most prevalent values in our country, once so common and now nearly extinct are oozing from her books. It is a delight to spend some time reading about salt of the earth people who win at life in spite of adversity that seems nearly impossible to overcome.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Lessons from Jane
I just finished reading Jane Eyre again. Once again I am reminded why I love that book: Principles, Laws and Helen Burns. At least that is my answer this time. What mother doesn’t read that book and have a deep desire for her own daughters to be as principled and strong as Jane? How many nineteen year-old girls today choose principle and natural law over the whims of the heart (or something totally frivolous)? Exactly.
Jane begins life in want of affection. So much so, that she believes to be loved is above all other cares. In great wisdom, her dear friend Helen Burns sets her straight, “Hush, Jane! You think too much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, too vehement: the sovereign hand that created your frame, and put life into it, has provided you with other resources than your feeble self, or than creatures feeble as you. Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is round us, for it is everywhere; and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to guard us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides, and hatred crushed us, angels see our tortures, recognize our innocence … and god waits only the separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward. Why, then, should we ever sink overwhelmed with distress, when life is so soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness – to glory?”
Thank you Helen Burns. How many of us, as children, as teenagers, as grown women, put too much stock in the love of human beings, the acceptance of human beings, the validation of human beings? Think fashion marketing, cosmetic surgery, and teenage pregnancy... It’s really sad. Do we as adults look to a higher power for the love we desire, or do we only look among those ‘feeble creatures’ like us?
When she finally does find love and affection, it comes at a high price. In a very decisive moment Jane contemplates: “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?” Ah, Jane. What would be their worth if in our trying moments we set them aside for what is easy, or convenient or temporarily delicious to our hearts?
Following her moment of decision, Jane experiences a very difficult and truly humbling experience. One that pushes her to the edge of wishing for sudden death. But she pulls through. Of course she pulls through. She has a divine maker watching over her. After the difficulty passes Jane says, “Yes; I feel now that I was right when I adhered to principle and law, and scorned and crushed the insane promptings of a frenzied moment. God directed me to a correct choice: I thank His providence for the guidance!” She recognizes the significance of standing firm in her resolve. Jane stuck with the principles she believed to be true, though very difficult, and now has the benefit of knowing her choice correct. The added beauty of it is that when she stayed true, she was blessed with what she wanted most, but this time not at the cost of righteousness. Her maker did not abandon her.
So now I ponder - how do I teach that strength, that fortitude? How does one encourage standing steadfast in truth and in principle to a young generation when our culture does not even know what those words mean? Jane had mentors like Helen and Miss Temple, Diana and Mary and St. John to help her, to stand as models before her of these attributes. We must be the mentors for our young. We must model that strength of principle and adherence to law in our daily moments of decision. We must do it even when we are worn down and tired and it’s hard. We must do it with love. And then, because we can never be as perfect as a character in great fiction, we can put before them the examples that we know inspire this character development. Once we know Jane Eyre and Helen Burns and Diana and Mary Rivers, we can put them before our daughters as mentors. My next question is - what are you going to do now?
Jane begins life in want of affection. So much so, that she believes to be loved is above all other cares. In great wisdom, her dear friend Helen Burns sets her straight, “Hush, Jane! You think too much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, too vehement: the sovereign hand that created your frame, and put life into it, has provided you with other resources than your feeble self, or than creatures feeble as you. Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is round us, for it is everywhere; and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to guard us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides, and hatred crushed us, angels see our tortures, recognize our innocence … and god waits only the separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward. Why, then, should we ever sink overwhelmed with distress, when life is so soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness – to glory?”
Thank you Helen Burns. How many of us, as children, as teenagers, as grown women, put too much stock in the love of human beings, the acceptance of human beings, the validation of human beings? Think fashion marketing, cosmetic surgery, and teenage pregnancy... It’s really sad. Do we as adults look to a higher power for the love we desire, or do we only look among those ‘feeble creatures’ like us?
When she finally does find love and affection, it comes at a high price. In a very decisive moment Jane contemplates: “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?” Ah, Jane. What would be their worth if in our trying moments we set them aside for what is easy, or convenient or temporarily delicious to our hearts?
Following her moment of decision, Jane experiences a very difficult and truly humbling experience. One that pushes her to the edge of wishing for sudden death. But she pulls through. Of course she pulls through. She has a divine maker watching over her. After the difficulty passes Jane says, “Yes; I feel now that I was right when I adhered to principle and law, and scorned and crushed the insane promptings of a frenzied moment. God directed me to a correct choice: I thank His providence for the guidance!” She recognizes the significance of standing firm in her resolve. Jane stuck with the principles she believed to be true, though very difficult, and now has the benefit of knowing her choice correct. The added beauty of it is that when she stayed true, she was blessed with what she wanted most, but this time not at the cost of righteousness. Her maker did not abandon her.
So now I ponder - how do I teach that strength, that fortitude? How does one encourage standing steadfast in truth and in principle to a young generation when our culture does not even know what those words mean? Jane had mentors like Helen and Miss Temple, Diana and Mary and St. John to help her, to stand as models before her of these attributes. We must be the mentors for our young. We must model that strength of principle and adherence to law in our daily moments of decision. We must do it even when we are worn down and tired and it’s hard. We must do it with love. And then, because we can never be as perfect as a character in great fiction, we can put before them the examples that we know inspire this character development. Once we know Jane Eyre and Helen Burns and Diana and Mary Rivers, we can put them before our daughters as mentors. My next question is - what are you going to do now?
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