Customer Reviews

How to Survive in Your Native Land.

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The beauty of Herndon's work is that he is both a wonderful writer (he is featured as one of the better writers of nonfiction in William Zinsser's classic _On Writing Well_) and an astute observer of his own and his children's actions. How to Survive presents him at his finest, discussing not how to teach (he almost never does this) but what teaching and learning are like. He does this with humor, honesty, and an edge. No teacher, reading this book, can come away without a more thoughtful consideration of his or her own teaching. It is stunning and does not deserve to have been forgotten in the way that it has.

Great storytelling is great teaching, and James Herndon is both great teacher and grand storyteller. Though educational theory may have shifted, Herndon's stories about his students are indelible--brimming with humor, love and respect.

Kite vignette was great; my fave part though was transcript of his lecture, "Public School... Or What?" A grrrrrrrreat book overall. Buy 5 copies and give them away. I wish it wasn't so hard to find though... Marco Capelli Frucht

This book really says it like it is. Even though written decades ago, the basic tenets it lays out regarding schools and life within them still ring true.

James Herndon is a top notch writer and a notable explorer in the field of education. He is one of my heroes.

When I read this book, I was a crappy teacher in a crappy school in the South Bronx. Then I read it and read it, five or ten times, felt like someone had given me the key to the universe, almost got fired, and ended up in a better school but still not a much better teacher. I'm not sure if my goal in life is to become James Herndon or maybe just to meet him, if he is still living in San Francisco (he's listed in the phone book there.) When I give this book to other teachers, they tend to react with love and astonishment; when I give it to non-teachers, they don't really get it, although they tend to love his other great book, the Way it Spozed to Be. Presently, my copy is languishing in my principal's bookshelf, unread after four years.

I bought a used copy perhaps 12 years ago. His writing has really stayed with me. Over the years I've read the book 3 times, called friends to read them chapters, given copies as gifts. I'm not an educator, I'm simply moved by the truth, humor and love in his writing. A treasure.

Herndon at his best. In this charming -- if sometimes bawdy -- little book, Herdon brings his students alive. It's the details that are telling -- and school becomes more than school. It's a microcosm. Kids admonish each other to quit pestering the lizards as dozens of hands keep reaching into their home... A monster kite threatens the lunchtime gaggle of 7th grade girls... A dog is obsessed with an old tennis ball... Laugh, cry, think. Read this book.

James Herndon, in my opinion, has written the two best books about education that I have ever read. The Way It Spozed To Be and How to Survive in Your Native Land were used in many universities and colleges across the country in the 70s. As a now retired teacher, I look at what education has become in this country, how far we have wandered from the Herdon Days of alternative schools and teachers who were not afraid to do the right thing, and I weep.-- Sam Yulish, author of Where Have All the Hippies Gone? and The Hesitant Psychic.

I have nothing original to say, I only wanted to throw another five-star endorsement on the heap.
This book is so good that it made me want to be pickier about the books I read. The four or five books I read before and after it were so disappointing in comparison. I keep it in my library to share wit anyone interested in education. But it is a beautiful, quick read that I would recommend to anyone. An absolute classic.

In this age of standardized tests and reading programs, Herndon's clarion call sounds louder than ever. This is one of the best books written about teaching and education and should be required reading for every college teaching education course. It has certainly inspired me and I hope it inspires other teachers to speak and write truthfully about their experiences and stand up to a system that increasingly views our amazing kids as a set of numbers and data.