Customer Reviews

Stupidity and Tears: Teaching and Learning in Troubled Times

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When I went through the Success For All "Wings" training, I found myself and the others at my table acting "incredibly stupid" as a means of subverting the training. We got very silly. It occured to me that the kids do the exact same thing in class as a response to overly controlling teacher instructions. This book is a very thoughtful examination of how and why kids act silly and dumb in class. He gives examples of "stupid" situations that children react to by acting stupid, such as the case of the six year olds who did not believe that a picture of a woman mopping showed that she liked to mop, as they were supposed to in order to give the correct answer. They felt that mopping was something one had to do but did not necessarily like, but there was no room for such distinction on the test.
He goes on to suggest that the same kind of stupid behavior as a protest against oppressive and stupid but mandated methods of teaching is affecting teachers as well.

As a teacher in an elementary school, I really enjoyed this thoughtful and insightful book. I would strongly recommend reading it.