The Students are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract [Paperback]

Nancy Faust Sizer (Author), Theodore Sizer (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807031216 | ISBN-13: 978-0807031216 | Publication Date: July 15, 2000

In this groundbreaking book, Theodore and Nancy Sizer insist that students learn not just from their classes but from their school's routines and rituals, especially about matters of character. They convince us once again of what we may have forgotten: that we need to create schools that constantly demonstrate a belief in their students.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written by Theodore and Nancy Sizer, coprincipals of a high school and veterans in the field of education (he was named dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education at age 32, she trains teachers in the same program), The Students Are Watching is a gentle but tough-minded plea for resetting the moral compass of American education and creating academic institutions "which will nurture our humanity." In high schools, which the authors call "one of America's most ubiquitous intentional communities," teachers and administrations can choose to model values they believe in, or they can slip into the same lazy strategies used by their students to avoid work and responsibility. "They watch us all the time," warn the Sizers, who believe in the profound power of the school system to change children's lives, and offer a wealth of ideas for educators and other adults to create the culture of trust and respect that will change their charges for the better. --Maria Dolan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Teachers play a vital role in shaping the morality of young people, contends Ted Sizer (Horace's School, etc.), founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools, and co-principal with his wife, Nancy Sizer (Making Decisions), of the Francis W. Parker Charter School in Ayer, Mass. In their first endeavor as co-writers, the Sizers maintain that teachers model ways to approach knotty problems and, because they have emotional distance from students, can help them keep their thinking balanced in difficult situations. Acknowledging that some people are concerned by the notion that educators have the right to shape students' minds, they assert that high schools have long had three core tasks: to prepare young people for the world of work, to prepare them to think deeply and in an informed way and to help them become decent human beings. Yet, though schools exist for the benefit of children and adolescents, the Sizers point out that the students are often seen as the school's "clients," as its powerless peopleAthough the authors believe that is a costly, patronizing pretense. Instead, the Sizers call for adults to put stock in the suggestions of children, since they watch and listen to adults all the time and have learned more than we realize. Clearly sympathetic to educators, the Sizers recognize that "serious teaching does not carry an eight-to-four expectation whatever any contract says." For educators and parents concerned about raising thoughtful citizens, this slim book offers the surprisingly weighty insight that if we wish to shape our children's valuesAhow as a matter of habit they treat others and how self-aware they areAwe must first look into the mirror.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (July 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807031216
• ISBN-13: 978-0807031216
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.5 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joe says read this book!, March 17, 2000

By 

Joe Burris (Weiser, Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract (Hardcover)

"To find the core of a school, don't look at its rulebook or even its mission statement. Look at the way the people in it spend their time..." (p. 18). This quotation from The Students are Watching is exactly what the Sizers have done in this book. This book examines how the students, teachers, administrators, and everyone else who is involved in schools spend their time. It is a book wrought with parables about high school life. This book is not meant as a case study, but rather a reflection of what high school is really like. The stories used to illustrate the authors' points are not necessarily factual literal cases, but are realistic and well chosen.

I found this book to be very readable and well organized. The six chapters describe what happens in schools: 1. Modeling 2. Grappling 3. Bluffing 4. Sorting 5. Shoving 6. Fearing Within these chapters, the Sizers reflect on what they have observed in their combined 40+ years in education. Each of the above verbs is done in schools both in positive and negative ways. The Sizers do a wonderful job of explaining what schools do, why they do it, and the consequences for their actions.

This book is not a how to manual for improving academics. Rather, it is a well-written thought provoker that helps those involved with school to think about what students are really learning. Much more important than academics, the Sizers focus on what values our schools are sharing with our young people.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is involved with school in any capacity.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on education I've ever read, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract (Hardcover)

Ted and Nancy Sizer write, not with the equivocal opinions of policy makers, but with the authority of their years of experience as teachers and school reformers. I've read a lot of books on education, but this is the only one I've read that truly matters. It persuades us, through its economy and intelligence, that only by building a moral community -- one unique to each school -- can we begin to change our public schools to serve their students, teachers, and our society.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moral education for children begins right here with adults, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract (Hardcover)

When I first picked up Theodore and Nancy Faust Sizer's book, The Students are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract something in the word moral made my knee jerk. Maybe it is the way those on the right like to harken back to the days of mom in the kitchen-dad hard at work on the golf course, and Jane and Joe glued to the Howdy Doody Show (no offense to Howdy himself). But knowing Ted and Nancy's previous contributions to progressive education reform I thought better of laying the book down.

In fact, what makes this book so important is its ability to engage reformers on the left in a conversation about moral values, less the archaic symbols of a questionably idyllic past. And it is a moral contract the Sizers are talking about: an agreement between students and school people to fix what is wrong with our schools.

"The Students are Watching", the Sizers warn school officials. They are watching and taking note each time the contract is failed by their teacher who is simply trying to control an out of control class, or their decaying school building, or their less than stimulating curriculum. The students are watching and asking themselves why they should care if no one else does.

This is a well written, very readable book.