Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
One-Dimensional, Angry Diatribe, May 25, 2011
I had to think about this review for a few days. The author's anger really poured through the pages, and his outrage is, I am sure, borne of experience, but ultimately the novel had shallow characters, awkward writing, and some fairly unbelievable situations, like a thirty-year-old assistant superintendent with (apparantly, given the timeline of her backstory) no prior administrative experience or certification.
There was a lot of educational jargon, some of which seemed poorly understood by the author, despite the fact that he was making fun of it. The central message of the novel was that the school system is broken (which is a given at this point), but also that in the "old days" teachers had the freedom to actually teach, and that parents and administrators do little more than get in the way of education today. Dai's interaction with parents was pretty obvious wish fulfillment in a number of cases, as parents who were represented by a variety of charicatures were called out for their failure to actually parent.
I think all teachers feel that way at times, and it made sense with the characterization and plot. What made less sense was the one-dimensional representation of the students as either gifted children being held hostage by a broken system or thugs and slackers who were not worthy of a teacher's time. Much of the description was both shallow and cruel. I am reminded of Jonathan Swift's quote about genius and the confederacy of dunces, but depite the melodramatic and unbelievable act of heroism towards the end of the novel, the supposed hero among teachers acted more like a sullen child himself for much of the novel--his committments as a teacher should be no more a waste of his time than his class was a waste of his students' time.
As a veteran teacher, I share many of the author's frustrations with enabling parents, clueless administrators, and school board members more interested in politics than progress. I really wanted to like this novel. Overall, though, I found it cynical, inconsistent, and generally weak.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
42 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A terrible irony!, August 12, 1998
In attempting sympathetically to portray teacher Dai O'Connel's struggle to maintain academic standards in defiance of a misguided educational bureaucracy, this book itself fails to meet a number of minimum standards. It is poorly designed: some pages are right-justified, some are ragged right; a number of paragraphs are not indented; sometimes there's a space after a comma, sometimes there isn't; some quotation marks are missing. Characters' names are not consistently spelled: Patti becomes Patty, which reverts to Patti. One character is consistently Genaro throughout most of the book, but is Jenaro toward the end, then Genaro again. There are word usage problems: "it's" is used as "its"; "your" is used as "you're." The prose is frequently overwrought and occasionally confused; sometimes it's not possible to determine who is uttering a given part of the dialogue. There are impossible happenings: in a torrential downpour, O'Connel rescues a woman from a flooded bridge, carries her back to his truck parked at the side of the road, then backs onto "dry pavement." O'Connel teaches his students that nitrogen is a noble gas; nevertheless, "Some plants can take it out of the air, and make their own fertilizer." I am most offended, however, by O'Connel's ignorance about and contempt for some students and their parents. Parents who question his methods aren't simply in disagreement; they have "pig eyes," wear "purple sweats three sizes too small," and "exud[e] a pinched confidence." He calls the students he doesn't like "jerks" and "horse's asses." One unruly student is characterized as having "O.D.D.-- Opposition Defined Disability." Presumably this is a reference to oppositional defiant disorder, a disorder that can develop into a serious disability but can be successfully treated with therapy and medication (see "When You Worry About the Child You Love," by Edward Hallowell, M.D.). O'Connel dismisses his ODD-afflicted student as a "loser," in one classroom scene slams him up against the wall, and in more than one instance declares that some students simply can't learn. A child I'm quite close to has Tourette syndrome and a number of associated problems, including ODD. His parents have been extraordinarily devoted to him and extremely patient with him. He has occasionally been out of control at school, but his school has not given up on him. He has been successfully treated with both therapy and medication, and he is learning a great deal in a classroom with a talented teacher. I wouldn't want him ever to be within earshot of or influenced by any teacher like Dai O'Connel.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Is This Author Angry, September 30, 2011
I read it and I just could sense the anger in this authors feelings written on the pages of this book. I think I wasted my time reading it and the money paying for it. This was not a free book when I purchased it.
Just read the other reviews as posted and draw your own conclusion if you think this would be a good read for you. It was quite amusing all the typographical errors in this book about education. After you read over the other reviews left about the book I think you will understand what the meaning of this book is truly about. Sorry it took me a bit to post the review but my time is worth something also.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
