Customer Reviews

The Quality School

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Following on Dr. Demming's principle that "Quality is Job #1," Glasser lays out a practical approach to revitalizing education in the same way that Demming revitalize the Japanese auto industry in post-WWII. By eliminating coersion, and stimulating pride in one's workmanship by emphasizing quality at every level, from student upto superintendent, it is possible improve the quality of education for all students. It is a humane approach to dealing with problems that plague our schools today: apathy, rebelliousness, low skill and so forth. Glasser boldly demands of us to abandon failing boss tactics that riddle our school for something that will bring the best in everyone.

This book demonstrates how important it is to be involved with students' quality worlds. He has a great understanding of what our educational system should be like. We need kids to continually strive to do quality work. Teachers need to be seen as leaders; not boss managers. I have a totaly different view about how I should teach and what to expect from my students. Dr. Glasser proves throughout this book how important a quality school is. He also gives guidelines on how to achieve this goal. This book is a must for every teacher in our nation

A copy of this book should be smuggled onto the desks of EVERY principal and superintendant. Suggests ways in which to manage schools so that students are excited about their work and want to go to school! Readers will realize that responsibility should be spread throughout the school system and not placed directly on the shoulders of the teachers! Wonderful reading!

In some ways indebeted to R.M. Pirsig's Amarican classic *Zen and the Art of Motercycle Mantinance*, Glasser argues that the ONLY way to improve our schools is to help students to see the quality in what they are learning and the way they are learning it. When people see that something has quality for them, then (and only then) they begin to care about it. Glasser emphasizes the need to shift from traditional boss-management, to lead-managment which is non-coercive, and so the students see the teacher as a team captain and not as an adversary whose power is resented.

For many decades now, Dr. William Glasser has been espousing both choice theory (his theory of human motivations) and the "quality school" (the education model based on choice theory). This book goes a long way in not only describing the "quality school" education model, but in showing how it ties to choice theory.

The basic premise behind choice theory that applies to the "quality school" is the idea that people inherently desire control over their lives. Glasser criticizes "tradidional" schooling for failing to give kids any sense of control over their education or lives. They are given work that they cannot see the relevance to for their lives, told to do it, and given grades as rewards or penalties.

Glasser's solution? The "quality school" is designed as a more cooperative, rather than adversarial, venture between teacher and student. Teachers ask students how they want to learn a particular subject, deadlines become somewhat obscelete (the student turns in her work when she feels it is "quality"), etc.

Now, while it may be a truism that students learn best when working at their pace on their terms - that's what makes this a 'feel good' book - the astute reader will want to see evidence that such a model of education works. It is no exageration to say that these readers will be disappointed when they find absolutely no statistical evidence of the kind in this or any other of Glasser's books.

In the end, that is what makes this book, and so many of Glasser's books, diappointing. First, he adoptes the tone of a salesman througout. He is certainly trying to "sell" us a product. And, like a good salesman, he sways by rhetoric rather than statistics and numbers. Most strangely, he even "feigns" figures. At certain points in the bookk, he will say, "80% of students..." or "20% of teachers..."; surely this beckons a citation. After quoting these "figures" thouugh, Glasser offers no statistics. (The few times he does cite sources to back his claims, he is prone to citing New York Times articles and such - hardly peer-reviewed journals.)

While it may be interesting to read this book and entertain the ideas - I still think there may be something to them - the reader should be reminding herself that all of Glasser's salesmanship amounts to gross speculation and nothing more. This book has a "feel good" approach that (whether consciously or not) was likely designed to have us forget or overlook this dearth of factual analysis. Read the book, yes. But do not forget that Glasser still owes us some numbers.

I've used Glasser's work in my middle-school classroom to establish what's acceptable work, and I've used it to broach discussions of why we even mandate schooling. Few books on education that I've read have had the impact on my teaching that this book and The Quality School Teacher: A Companion Volume to The Quality School, Glasser's other tome on applying Choice Theory to education, have had. If you want an approach to dealing with people that will work, then read this book. If you're looking for a tome on how to fill students' heads with information--which is, admittedly, something all teachers ought to be concerned with--then you should have already read this book, for the information herein will make you all the more successful.

This is a great book for people who are beginning their research with education reform. No methods, but plenty of basis to continue on with.

As I see many of the reviewers here question and doubt the idea of quality schools and choice theory. It has been a few years since I read Choice Theory and Reality Therapy, but I have put the theories into practice in my own life. It is very difficult to let go of the old external control psychology, but it is very possible to make Choice Theory a new habit. Changing the school systems seems like such an enormous task, an almost impossible one. But I think most parents would agree that we need to do something new. There is a reason why Dr. Glasser doesn't go into deep explaination as to how to bring about a Quality School in his book, because he wants teachers and principles to take his classes to learn the theory.

This book is an introduction to the theory not a course in how to practice it. And the one reason I don't think he has a lot of statistical information in his book is because at the time of writing it, there wasn't much to give. I believe it is hard for people to admit what they are doing now might not be the best way to do it, thus they resist anything that might suggest to them change. But if you are looking for some way to change your outlook on life, your happiness level, or you child's schools this book and his others are good investments. These books are unlike any other book you will read in the field of psychology.

Have you been in a school where Dr. Glasser's "Quality School" has been implemented? Here were some of the practices of one school that used Glasser's philosophy:

1. Students who misbehaved in class were allowed to calm down with a five-minute walk; or they were sent to their homeroom advisor or a teacher the student trusted.

2. Teachers were not allowed to set deadlines for work to allow students to continually improve on their work until they are able to submit quality work. Students were allowed to ask for an incomplete if they needed more time to submit their work.

3. In school suspension was not used. Instead of sending students to in school suspension, they were sent to a room where they can relax, cool off, and talk to a counselor about why they are acting up.

Sounds pretty good right? Now here's what really happened:

1. Students who were asking for 5-minute walks ended up getting 15-minute or whole class period strolls around the campus. Too many students were in the hallways cutting class. Teachers also abused this by allowing a problem student 5-minute walks just to get them out of the classroom.

2. Instead of submitting work and asking comments from teachers on how to improve their work and receive an A, many students stopped submitting work altogether because they could always ask for an incomplete. Students were submitting work late and too close to the grade submission deadline. Teachers were overwhelmed because on the day grades were due, students were still turning in work and the teachers HAD TO accept them.

3. Students become bolder in committing offenses because the penalty for breaking a rule was getting out of class and staying in a room where the were lights dim (the perfect atmosphere for students to think about their feelings and search deep down on why they committed such an offense...you get the drift).

Glasser's philosophy is anarchy in disguise...what better way to start chaos than to remove structure in child's life. Children need structure. Children want structure although they often act like they despise it. Granted, there were many errors in implementing Glasser's principles, there really is no way to make it work when it is flawed to begin with.

Good overall concept. Rather redundant and begins to feel like overkill after awhile. This book doesn't offer much in the way of example - has it really been put into practice with success? Not sure because it's more preaching than showing.