Customer Reviews

Permission to Forget: And Nine Other Root Causes of America's Frustration with Education

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4 star:		(1)
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Dr. Jenkins does a great job of pointing out many counter-productive practices of educators. Jenkin's idea that improvement will come simply by discontinuing these practices is enlightening. His emphasis on identifying the root causes of educational frustration will help educators address and fix the problems occurring in schools, instead of treating symptoms. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their classroom practices, climate, student motivation and student-teacher relationships!

It has often been stated that there is nothing "new" in the field of education reform. Whether or not that statement is true, in the case of "Permission to Forget", Lee Jenkins explores the underlying causes of the problems with our educational system and offers a systemic approach to those we can address.
This book does not offer a "magic bullet" that will cure all of our educational ills, but rather a practical approach to addressing those we can have control over. We may have to deal with such problems as pendulum swings and administrators who lead by personality or force instead of knowledge, but we can - with a list of information, a number cube, some shoe boxes and charts - address the age-old problem of students forgetting what we educators have worked so hard to teach them.

I am working with my students using some of the strategies suggested in this book.
Lee Jenkins is right on the mark!

As texts go, a little dry. But the ideas will make you think long and hard about our education system. Worth reading and makes some excellent points.

No solutions are offered here, only an opportunity to whine. This book would be far more useful is solutions were truly presented but what we have here is a list of opinions without any supporting evidence. Furthermore, many ideas have been lifted from others: i.e. the Jefferson Memorial reference is taken from the Juran Institute - though with permission it had been used by Jenkins for many years without any reference to its creator. No doubt the Juran Institute was finally credited because of the publisher's copyright concerns. To quote a close associate, who technically works for him, Jenkins "has taken the theory of Profound Knowledge from Deming's New Economics and practical leadership theory from Peter Scholtes' Leaders Handbook..." No new ideas in this book only revisited ideas that lack any supporting evidence. If you'd like to read opinions its far less expensive, and more amusing, to pick up a tabloid at the supermarket.