The Queen of Education: Rules for Making Schools Work (Jossey-Bass Education) [Hardcover]

LouAnne Johnson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787974706 | ISBN-13: 978-0787974701 | Publication Date: September 24, 2004 | Edition: 1

Wanted: A Queen of Education
Candidate must be able to take decisive action, cut through red tape, deflate the bureaucratic bloat, wrestle with the diagnostic nightmare of ADHD, and refuse to sell out her students to the corporate fat cats.

Though we have "education presidents" who give lip service to fixing schools?what we really need is a Queen of Education who will get the job done. Anyone searching for such a candidate would put LouAnne Johnson's resume on the top of the stack of likely applicants. LouAnne Johnson is the gutsy ex-marine turned teacher who has wrestled with tough kids and even tougher adults. Her life inspired the movie Dangerous Minds - which was based on her book My Posse Don't Do Homework. Johnson's knack for finding original solutions to intractable problems has not only made her an exemplary teacher but a popular speaker on the lecture circuit.

In this engaging book, "Queen" LouAnne offers her down-to-earth advice about fixing schools. Johnson makes no secret about the fact that she is fed up with an educational system that is too quick to label and write off children who don?t fit the mold. Among her royal rules for fixing the system: no class shall have more than 20 students, all elected representatives must teach in a public school classroom for two weeks, and the testing frenzy must stop this very second! LouAnne is a passionate advocate for schools that are smaller, healthier, more humane, and more attuned to different learning styles. With humor and good sense, she shows how a compassionate teacher or parent can cut through the red tape and make a crucial difference in the life of a child.

"LouAnne Johnson's book is a blend of common sense, humor, and practical, down-to-earth ideas of how each one of us, as a parent or a concerned citizen, can make a contribution toward improving America's public schools. I highly recommend it."
- Michele Borba, Ed.D., author, Don't Give Me That Attitude!, No More Misbehavin', and Building Moral Intelligence

"As a former student of LouAnne's first 'at risk' class, I experienced firsthand her approach to education. The result was nothing less than a miracle. This book has the power to do for the United States education system what it did for our class; turn a flawed reality into an exemplary system of education."
- Dan Mueller, associate producer and designer, BottleRocket Entertainment Inc.

"LouAnne Johnson writes with passion, humor, and good old common sense about the joys and frustrations of teaching, and the ways in which caring individuals can make a critical difference. Her book is a must read for all who have a stake in the success of our schools."
- Robert R. Spillane, United States Department of State, Office of Overseas Schools, former New York State Deputy Commissioner of Education and former superintendent of the Boston and Fairfax County Virginia Public Schools

Praise for Dangerous Minds

"Johnson shows the importance of basic respect, constant encouragement, and unorthodox teaching strategies for a generation (another generation) of disenfranchised students."
- Kirkus Review

"Remarkable - Johnson proves that unorthodox methods can turn a problem kid into an "A" student."
- Vogue

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Johnson, an ex–Marine Corps officer turned high-school teacher whose 1992 memoir, My Posse Don't Do Homework inspired the movie Dangerous Minds, crowns herself the titular queen and hands down royal edicts in this straightforward, valuable book. Her "rules for making schools work" are grounded in the worthy premise that schools should be designed for student learning, health and development—not for administrative efficiency or corporate profit—and should be places where students actually want to be. Johnson is a keen, empathetic observer of students, especially "at-risk" kids (she prefers the term "disenchanted"), and she's quick to point out what harms them: labeling ("big business—and a dangerous business"), detention ("creates more problems than it solves"), junk food ("[f]at and failure in school may be linked") and standardized tests ("wrong and pointless"). But she offers more than critiques. In addition to inspiring stories of her own classroom successes, she offers an outline for her dream school, where good funding would allow a gorgeous, high-tech closed campus, a big library and low student-to-teacher ratio, and a shift in thinking would proscribe age-based classes, standardized curricula and competitive interschool athletics. Teachers, administrators, parents and policy makers should take note of Johnson's simple but compelling ideas. Maybe having a "queen of education" is something to consider.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Johnson, author of Dangerous Minds (1992), says the question reporters most frequently put to her concerns what is needed to fix public schools. Her answer: make her the queen of education with the authority to cut red tape and dismantle bureaucracies. In this book, Johnson offers a blueprint for improving public schools: hold classroom size to a maximum of 20 students, compel elected officials to teach public school for two weeks while living on teachers' salaries, use common sense in addressing education issues, stop "the testing frenzy." From her prologue, which parodies the evolution of public education from an ideal to a system that addresses corporate needs more than children's needs, through recollections from her own experiences as a teacher, Johnson offers passion and a fresh perspective on where we've gone wrong in public education and what to do about it. Public school educators and parents will enjoy Johnson's humor and candor, as well as her insightful suggestions for improvement. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (September 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787974706
• ISBN-13: 978-0787974701
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,144,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Biography LouAnne Johnson

LouAnne Johnson is a former U.S. Navy journalist, Marine Corps officer, high school teacher, and the author of The New York Times bestseller Dangerous Minds. A native of rural northwestern Pennsylvania, LouAnne served nine years on active military duty first as an enlisted journalist in the Navy and later as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps where she earned awards for her work as a journalist and radio-tv broadcaster. 

While on active duty, LouAnne earned a B.S. in Psychology. Following her honorable discharge, she attended graduate school to earn a Master of Arts in teaching English. In 1989, LouAnne began teaching reading and writing to non-English speakers as an intern at a high school in California. Two years later, she was appointed department chair of a special program for at-risk teens. During the government evaluation of 10 similar pilot programs, LouAnne's group was rated first in academic achievement, increased self-esteem, and student retention.


In 1992, she wrote a memoir My Posse Don't Do Homework, about her experiences working with at-risk teens. The book was published in eight languages and was adapted for the 1995 box office hit "Dangerous Minds" starring Michelle Pfeiffer.


Since then LouAnne has continued to teach. She has taught high school English, adult ESL and Developmental Reading and is presently a full-time professor of teacher education at Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico.

LouAnne also continues to write. She is the author of seven nonfiction books, most recently Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students by Their Brains.

Muchacho, LouAnne's first novel, was published by Knopf in September 2009. The narrator of Muchacho, Eddie Corazon, is a 16-year-old juvenile delinquent and "secret reader" who attends an alternative high school in New Mexico.

LouAnne has presented keynote addresses to the National School Boards Association, the American School Counselors Association, the National Staff Development Council, and the European Council of International Schools, among others. She has appeared on several TV shows, including Oprah, CBS Eye to Eye, and NBC Weekend Today.

LouAnne maintains a website that has direct links to many of the topics she discusses during her presentations.

www.louannejohnson.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Satire is satire, June 19, 2005

By 

Louanne Johnson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Queen of Education: Rules for Making Schools Work (Jossey-Bass Education) (Hardcover)

Just a quick note to readers: The Queen of Education essay in this book is a satire. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously. It's purpose was to provoke thought. The edicts are far-fetched because our school systems are in a ridiculous state of disarray and many things could be addressed with common sense - but that isn't being done. If you remember Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, he suggested that rich people eat the children of the poor. Surely he wasn't serious. Neither is the Queen. But I am serous about fixing our schools. This country throws billions of dollars at so many other things from foreign aid to space exploration. We need to spend some money, wisely, on our own education system.
Thanks for reading this disclaimer. I hope you find something in the book that speaks to you.
LouAnne

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Royal Read!, September 21, 2004

By 

Another teacher with a heart (Thomasville, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Queen of Education: Rules for Making Schools Work (Jossey-Bass Education) (Hardcover)

Louanne Johnson has my vote for Queen! The ideas in this book are logical, intelligent and humane. Why can't we create student-centered schools, as she suggests, instead of designing everything to make life easier for adults? I have read Dangerous Minds and The Girls in the Back of the Class, so I knew I would find interesting anecdotes and practical advice. But this book has much more-- information on scotopic sensitivity, essential fatty acids, and why detention programs don't work. But I like Johnson's humor as much as her serious writing. I especially enjoyed the fable in this book, and the quirky drawings. But because I am a teacher, the last chapter, An Open Letter to Teachers really hit home for me. It made me cry. It made me proud to be a teacher. I think every politician and school administrator in this country should have to read this book and spend ten minutes talking to the Queen.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Hail the Queen!, September 28, 2004

By 

Smart Cookie (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Queen of Education: Rules for Making Schools Work (Jossey-Bass Education) (Hardcover)

I love the Queen's royal edicts, especially the part about making the U.S. Congressmen and women enroll their own children in the poorest public schools in their districts, and making all the public officials teach in the school system with the curriculum available and living on a teacher's salary. They made me laugh out loud when I read them, but after I thought about them for a while I realized they were good ideas. Johnson's fable is a winner, too. I enjoyed reading the letters from students because it gave me some insight into the kids I deal with every day. The Open Letter to Teachers brought a tear to my eye. I skipped ahead to the end and read that letter first. Read this book!