Description
Book SynopsisSince hardly anyone is happy with American schools, it's always open season for school reform—with inevitable calls for better teaching, better curriculums, better organization, etc., etc. In these continuing exhortations, little attention is paid to the role of the students themselves, the object of the "learning process." In this explosive book, Paul Zoch argues that what America most needs to improve its schools is not necessarily better teachers but a wholesale shift in the way it thinks about who or what creates academic success. The tendency to look to teachers for students' achievement, he maintains, is the cause of low performance. Tracing the development of educational ideas in the United States from the time of William James to the present day, Mr. Zoch shows how they have given the schools an obsessive focus on teachers and their teaching methods while neglecting the disciplined effort and hard work that students must expend in order to achieve. Because most students, in accordance with society's prevailing views, see their success as a product of what their teachers do, they devote little effort to their studies and, predictably enough, learn little. Their dedication to schoolwork, as Mr. Zoch demonstrates, falls far short of that routinely displayed by students in other, less prosperous countries. Doomed to Fail is one of the freshest and most compelling investigations of the plight of our schools to appear in many years. It is sure to create a beehive of controversy.
Trade ReviewPaul Zoch has written a thoughtful and important book that reflects not only his experience as a classroom teacher and his knowledge of students, but his deep scholarship. This is a book that should be read by anyone who cares about realistic school reform. -- Diane Ravitch, Research Professor, New York University; Author of The Language Police
Arguing...in a rigorous and intellectually serious way, Paul A. Zoch's Doomed to Fail does much to restore student-centered education to the respectability it deserves. -- Gerald Graff, Professor of English and Education, University of Illinois at Chicago; Author of
Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures
Paul Zoch's Doomed to Fail is one of the most important books on American education ever published.... I hope everyone who cares about education reads this book and that it provokes the debate we so desperately need. -- William L. O'Neill, Professor of History, Rutgers University; author of Coming Apart
Recommended. -- R. J. Reynolds, Eastern Connecticut State University * CHOICE *
His book reminds us to expect more of students. * National Retired Teachers Association Live and Learn *
A student of the classics, Zoch delivers the ultimate anti-establishment, conservative critique of the state of education. * Tampa Tribune *
A stunning critique.... Most of the book is a brilliant recapitulation of the history of American education... Engaging. -- Diane Ravitch * Education Next: Journal of Opinion And Research *
Clearly, concisely, and convincingly lays out the reasons why...high school seniors score well below their peers in other countries. -- George A. Clowes George A. Clowes, Schoo * School Reform News *
Well-written and provocative. -- Victoria Maria MacDonald * The Historian *
Zoch presents...unacknowledged truths that ought to immediately become central to any national policy debate. -- Bruce Gans * American Journal of Education *
