I was referenced to this title by an earlier read: Curious, and after having read the other title that it recommended on education theory and practice (Why Don't Students Like School?) I decided I needed to follow up on the ideas presented with this one as well.
Seven Myths About Education
Daisy Christodoulou
ISBN: 9780415746823
Read September 28, 2014
I don't know why I expected this book to be longer than it was, but it's practically a pamphlet. It's also written by a teacher in Great Britain, so the specific institutional frameworks referenced are quite different from ours (mentions of analogues to school boards and review or policy-makers, or even to the grades or ages of students in examples - all were unfamiliar) but does not in my opinion make the book difficult to understand or to follow her chains of logic.
And her chains of logic are scrupulously maintained. For each myth, she examines in detail the theoretical underpinnings of an idea, proof that this idea is promulgated and approved by current school doctrines, then shows neurological and historical counters to this idea which establish it as a myth, and offers counterexamples and options for preferred teaching methods (although these last are a bit scarce).
I was amused to see her champion the Common Core methodology, given the political aching and moaning which is torpedoing progress in adopting a knowledge-based curriculum, but in a sort of perverse satisfaction, at least now with this book I know the British aren't head and shoulders ahead of us.
On the down-side, I have practically given up any hope that if I do have offspring, I'm going to be able to trust their education to any school system, either public, private, or Montessori. It's depressing to realize, but the saying seems to be true: if you want it done right, do it yourself. Needless to say, I've purchased this book for my own parenting collection.
No comments:
Post a Comment