Teaching in America: The Slow Revolution [Paperback]

Gerald Grant (Author), Christine E. Murray (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674007980 | ISBN-13: 978-0674007987 | Publication Date: April 15, 2002 | Edition: First Edition

If the essential acts of teaching are the same for schoolteachers and professors, why are they seen as members of quite separate professions? Would the nation's schools be better served if teachers shared more of the authority that professors have long enjoyed? Will a slow revolution be completed that enables schoolteachers to take charge of their practice--to shoulder more responsibility for hiring, mentoring, promoting, and, if necessary, firing their peers?

This book explores these questions by analyzing the essential acts of teaching in a way that will help all teachers become more thoughtful practitioners. It presents portraits of teachers (most of them women) struggling to take control of their practice in a system dominated by an administrative elite (mostly male). The educational system, Gerald Grant and Christine Murray argue, will be saved not by better managers but by better teachers. And the only way to secure them is by attracting talented recruits, developing their skills, and instituting better means of assessing teachers' performance.

Grant and Murray describe the evolution of the teaching profession over the last hundred years, and then focus in depth on recent experiments that gave teachers the power to shape their schools and mentor young educators. The authors conclude by analyzing three equally possible scenarios depicting the role of teachers in 2020.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This unusual book began at the authors' dinner tables, when they noticed that their spouses?one an elementary school teacher, one a university professor?were treated quite differently even though their work was "essentially the same." This realization prompted months of research into the history of schoolteachers and university professors. Grant and Murray refer to the crusade of college professors in the late 19th century as the "first revolution"?in which male professors fought a male administrative regime for higher pay and control over curriculum and tenure. A second revolution, they argue, is occurring now among schoolteachers, but slowly. It "pits mostly female workers, who have often been demeaned as high-paid baby-sitters, against entrenched male leaders." The book chronicles the significant progress of this slow revolution, focusing on three landmark case studies. Readers concerned with the condition of public schools and the status of schoolteachers will find that Grant and Murray not only provide them with solid ammunition for debate but also give them reason to keep up their spirits. (Mar.) FYI: Teaching in America won the publisher's annual prize awarded to an outstanding book about education and society.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

At a time when teachers--and their much-maligned product--are under severe scrutiny, Grant and Murray examine changing notions about the profession. They cite a quiet and slow revolution that advocates giving teachers more control over what and how they teach, putting them on a par with university professors. This book offers historical perspective on how the profession has changed, demographics on teacher and student populations in modern public school systems, and critical examination of current experiments to improve teaching. The authors are firm supporters of teacher efforts to wrest control from administrators and bureaucrats and to deal with their unions' desire to protect members--and the unions' own vested interests. The authors suggest that what is needed to improve teaching is more career development, focus on teaching skills, and more rigorous evaluation of teaching results. Grant and Murray provide thoughtful insight into how teaching is evolving at this critical point in the development of U.S. school systems. Vanessa Bush --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press; First Edition edition (April 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674007980
• ISBN-13: 978-0674007987
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,434,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teacher professionalism: the past and the future., March 25, 2000

By 

Dr Neil MacNeill "Dr Neil MacNeill" (Ellenbrook, Western Australia, Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Teaching in America: The Slow Revolution (Hardcover)

"Teaching in America: The slow revolution" is a good read.

Particularly interesting, for me, was the history of the developing professionalism of teachers. The authors make the point that the first revolution, brilliantly captured by Callahan (Education and the Cult of Efficiency) which saw the rise of the administrator class while teachers "... remained locked in a (sic.) hierachical system in which they were treated as hirelings whose work was mandated by a male administrative elite."

The authors argue passionately for a second revolution in teaching which will see teachers recognised as valued professionals. However the price that must be paid, according to the authors, is that teachers need to "... convince the public that they have the will and capacity to make judgments about who is fit to teach and who should be dismissed for incompetence. Teachers must show that they have standards by which their peers will be judged ...."

The growth of teacher professionalism and autonomy will clearly be at the expense of current administrative roles and this is not examined in depth in the book.

Chapter 9 - Teaching in 2020 was excellent and in a section called "Contrasts between the two revolutions" the points examined are: The nature of peer control; Allocation of time and money; Credibility, serving the public good; A revolution by women; Pressure for more egalitarian outcomes; The nature of markets for professional skills; and Sharing authority with parents.

I thought the book presented lots of useful information and thought that the argument that teaching was devalued among professions because (among other things) it was seen as women's work was a call to arms.

Teaching in America is a book that should be placed in the professional reading section for teachers in every school.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How come history takes such a long time?, September 29, 2001

By 

Mark Valentine (Port Angeles, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Teaching in America: The Slow Revolution (Hardcover)

The authors relate that the paradigm shift in American education has necessarily taken a long time. Still, the systems do change and are changing and their book may be one more stone for completely the arch of change.

What I found most helpful was their stress on teacher empowerment in enacting change. Their research indicates that teachers need less layers of administrative control and more opportunities for entrepreneurial decisions in shaping their learning communities, in determining budget issues, in establishing curriculum and assessments. They applaud recent movemont for fair and rigorous assessments, not only of students but of teachers. If teacher's standards are raised as an educational community, expect respect (financially, socially) to be credited to them. To do this, teachers also need more peer control of their services, control in rating and evaluating each other, and in helping each other find opportunities for collaboration. The results will build better schools beyond the verbiage that blows hard during political years.

I became somewhat bogged down in reading it during the middle chapters. The lengthy reports of how schools have sabotaged their own success, although necessary reading and well presented(especially if one is considering entering education or has just entered the profession), seemed droll. For me, it slowed the journey of reading down.

But definitely read it to the end. Their book would be a good, educational companion suggestion next to Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique perspective and storyline, December 2, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Teaching in America: The Slow Revolution (Hardcover)

Teaching in America offers a unique history of education from the perspective of the developing meaning of "teaching." By comparing the worlds of school teachers and college teachers over history, the authors expose stressfull points in educational history that have shaped todays' discourse on education.

While some of the text is written as intellectual history, a great deal of it is really a sociological analysis of the authors past personal experiencies and the challenges of past times. The result for the reader is a unique perspective and insight into a rarely studied period in recent history.

The lessons to be learned from these experiences are different than those suggested by other recent literature in educational history. In contrast to the conclusions of some of the other literature, this text suggests that the social challenges in education are tied to the conflicting goals we hold for teachers, students, men, women, etc. While each of these themes is explored elesewhere in the literature, they are brought together here in the experiences of two experienced teachers.