Customer Reviews

It Doesn't Take A Genius: Five Truths to Inspire Success in Every Student

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This book is a fascinating mix of direct and indirect communication. The book's basic points are made directly
by its coauthors and then exemplified indirectly by the vignettes provided by an interesting assemblage of their
former students. The coauthors' arguments are clear and unlittered with academic jargon. (For example, what
academics would call "intertextuality" is discussed without invoking the guild's current buzzword.) Many of the
brief student contributions are surprisingly moving.

In characterizing one of Tommie Lindey's emphases, a student writer (Joseph Riley Whitfield Jr.) in fact aptly
describes the book: "...a complex message delivered in common language [that] does not lose its sense of
the profound."

My advice to readers would be to read each of the "five truths" sections, breaking off reading after each to ponder
what it means for them. Considered and pondered, the book has practical and uplifting messages that have made, and will make, a difference.

While this inspiring book tells us that "it doesn't take a genius" to help students succeed, passage after passage show us how these two dedicated educators manage to bring out the genius in each of the students whose lives they touch. This is powerful testimony to the commitment, passion, wisdom, and strategies of skillful teachers who, first and foremost, believe in their students and honor them as human beings, thereby enabling them to attain excellence, not only in high school but also in life. This is a must-read book for teachers, parents, and others who might be moved by stories of student success against all odds posed by living in an inequitable, race-based society.

Reading "It Doesn't Take A Genius" was an inspirational experience. Having been more than a little disillusioned by our nation's crumbling public education system, this book reaffirmed my faith in it. This should be required reading for all teachers, because it helps them truly recognize the tremendous impact that they can have on the lives of children who might otherwise have nothing else.

Karen O,lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, gets it: "It's important for kids to feel bigger than they usually do. We're trying to make you feel a little bit cooler than you might actually be." Many American teachers don't get it. A lot of teaching today is either boring [2/3 of classroom time is talk and 2/3 of that is the teacher talking] or painfully judgemental[grades, the red pen, do and don't instructions]. It doesn't take a genius to see kids natural talents and creativity are being stifled.
Enter McCutcheon and Lindsey--Lindsey is a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient--with their Five Truths. These "Truths", explored in a clever anecdotal style,are a summation of what the authors discovered during years in the trenches of high school teaching.
But undergirding all the truths are the authors strong commitment to finding value in each student, understanding each student's interest or problem, and chalenging each student toward full potential by helping each student to feel special. McCutcheon and Lindsey get it and now every teacher and parent can too.

I have looked wide and far for a book like this. It's good to finally have a book about teaching, but through the viewpoint of students who have succeeded in the past. I most definitely will recommend this book to friends and family because I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories. So many experiences in this collection of success stories are truly something for everyone -- young and old. As a father of three, I will share these stories with my children and grandchildren.

Just two days after completing this book, I've already been motivated to implement these lessons and pieces of advice in the classroom as a high school teacher. While the advice is not exactly convenient to execute, it provides help in areas many teachers have never known how to amend. I used to think that the California Public School System and the federal public school system were doomed for failure, but this book actually provides a realistic hope for our lackluster public education system.

The text is also straight forward and concise. A pleasant and easy read.

This book is for parents as much as it is for teachers, and it is for students as much as it is for teachers. Heck, it is for any and all people whose lives aren't what they had expected. Or it is for people whose lives are going swimmingly, but want to read a marvelous book.

The fact of the matter is: there is only ONE Tommie Lindsey, there is only ONE Randall McCutcheon, but there are millions of people who could have used a teacher like either of these guys. This encouraging, readable, positive book offers simple advice to many of the seemingly complex questions in life.

Both teachers write well and provide great helpings of How They Did It, and the anecdotes by their students would make a worthy book even if they were published separately.

By the way, teachers should read this book, too. All of them.

I knew the players but I never knew how they played the game. I was truly moved and inspired by the dedication of the forensics students and motivated by their determination. This book isn't uniquely for teachers but for students of all ages because as we go on in life, we can always come to know, as the book states, that "class is never dismissed".