Description
Book SynopsisThis volume examines what's right with education, advocating schools that support children's innate desire to learn; schools that treat students as individuals, not widgets; and classrooms in which positive values are absorbed rather than drilled.
Trade Review"Of the dozens of 'experts' on what's wrong (and right) in U.S. schools, only a handful are truly worth reading; Kohn has long been one of the soundest." --Booklist
"Kohn's message, if heeded, could inspire a productive revolution in America's fatigued regime of public education." --Publisher's Weekly
"This collection...reminds us that many schools have veered off course in their day-to-day business. And it's a primer that, if taken seriously, can put schools back on the right track." --Educational Leadership
"Informative, inspiring, and thought-provoking." --Library Journal
Table of ContentsIntroduction ix
Part One: Classroom Mismanagement 1
1 The Limits of Teaching Skills 3
2 The Trouble with School Uniforms 8
3 Beyond Discipline 11
4 How Not to Teach Values: A Critical Look at Character Education 16
Part Two: American Ideology Goes to School 45
5 Resistance to Cooperative Learning: Making Sense of its Deletion and Dilution 47
6 “A Lot of Fat Kids Who Don’t Like to Read: The Effects of Pizza Hut’s Book It! Program and Other Reading Incentives 69
7 Grading: The Issue Is not How But Why 73
8 Grade Inflation and Other Red Herrings 82
9 Only for my Kid: How Privileged Parents Undermine School Reform 85
Part Three: Unquestioned Assumptions About Children 109
10 Suffer the Restless Children: Unsettling Questions About the ADHD Label 111
11 The Truth About Self-Esteem 135
12 Television and Children: ReViewing the Evidence 166
Part Four: Business as Usual 187
13 The Five-Hundred-Pound Gorilla 189
14 The False Premises of School Choice Plans 207
15 Students Don’t “Work” – They Learn 210
16 The Littlest Customers: TQM Goes to School 215
Part Five: Lessons Learned 225
17 Caring Kids: The Role of the Schools 227
18 Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide 249
19 What to Look for in a Classroom 277
Index 281
The Author 289
