Customer Reviews

Why School?

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If you are already a fan of Mike Rose's earlier books (Lives on the Boundary, Possible Lives, The Mind at Work), you will love this exquisite book of essays that revisits themes from his earlier writing, and yet pulls them together in a fresh and highly accessible way. If you have not yet read Rose's earlier work, this is a wonderful introduction. The civil rights leader Robert Moses once said of education that it is the civil rights agenda of our new cultural and economic times. What Rose poignantly argues in this book is that we have fallen shamefully short of achieving this new civil rights agenda: educational equality in public schools across America. This is not just in spite of the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, the bill that was intended to equalize education and help all students succeed. It is in part because of NCLB, with its unintended effect of narrowing the language and curriculum of public education. We have lost our way, argues Rose throughout this book. We have lost the fullness of public school teaching that focuses on critical and imaginative thinking, and that makes room for the rich diversity of American cultural life and thought. It is easy to offer a critique that tells us where we have gone astray, but Rose takes things one important step further in this collection. He shows through story and his own lyrical style of essayist commentary how things would look if they were different. What readers will find in this small but incredibly important book is a vision for public education that takes us beyond reductive dichotomies and narrow ways of thinking and acting. This is an important moment for public education in America, and Rose's voice is a critical one for helping us creatively rethink how education can become truly democratic.

What is the purpose of schooling in a democracy? Through the masterful blending of public policy debates with personal and ethnographic narrative, "Why School?" refocuses our collective attention on this fundamental question. In this powerful collection of essays, Mike Rose carefully explicates the central issues that characterize educational discourse in the United States: standards, accountability, remediation, intelligence, work and equity. But what makes this book special is the way he does it. Rose's treatment of each of these issues - his thoughtful disentangling of political rhetoric to articulate the essential questions we ought to be thinking about - reflects and offers the kind of "fresh language" he urges us to join him in creating. What does opportunity look and feel like? What is the value of a standard or assessment and how can we re-organize learning so that these become tools rather than rigid ends? How can we rethink oversimplified dichotomies (hand vs. mind, academic vs. everyday, policy vs. practice) in the service of a more "egalitarian philosophy of education?" While questioning narrow, purely economic discussions of schooling, Rose leaves no nuance or counterargument unexamined, building a compelling case for what we should be most concerned with: the social, cognitive, emotional and existential dimensions of human development, and the conditions that provide all students the opportunity to grow. In this sense, "Why School?" spills out beyond education, serving as a model for careful thinking and writing about a wide range of social issues.

Though Rose's "Why School?" rightly sounds the alarm on the discourse we use to talk about education and the very notion of the "public," its concrete magic lies in helping us think clearly about what we mean when we talk about good teaching. This is what we have come to expect from Mike Rose, dignified portraits of the tremendous wisdom, effort, struggle and potential that constitutes life in America's schools and workplaces. I recommend this book for anyone involved in the work of human development in its most expansive sense. This is a text that works on you, altering, improving and ultimately, humanizing the ways we see and experience the moment-to-moment social relations that lie at the heart of education.

Why School? addresses American public education in a humanizing, refreshing manner. Mike Rose candidly acknowledges the flaws and difficulties of our education system, and offers meaningful insight into how we need to address these challenges to reform the system. Through a collection of short but compelling essays, Mike Rose discusses a number of important topics, such as education policy, the role of business in education, the workplace, standards, and remediation. His discussion of these topics provide a much-needed narrative for why we educate--one that moves beyond the language of standards and accountability, and instead progresses toward one that appreciates the intellectual value of students and encourages their social and civic growth and development. This book makes a powerful contribution to education literature, but is suited for educators and non-educators alike. It provides a revitalizing vision for education in a democracy.

Early on author Mike Rose declares that "...we have lost our way." Our actions have been "...fear-based, inhuman, less noble." He claims that we need a new language to talk about education because the current rhetoric overlooks past values, narrows the scope and prohibits reflection on all that education should be. We've reduced "...human development and achievement...to a test score." "...what kind of education does a program of such testing foster?" Is it really an accurate measure of learning?

Historically, we've embraced the intellectual, social, civic, ethical and aesthetic benefits of education. Not today. Economic competitiveness and compliance, along with selfish benefits to the private sector, have trumped these broad and noble benefits.

We have to reconsider what education is for, especially in light of human development and civic responsibility. Hopefully, "big-hearted social policy and an embrace of the ideals of a democratic education..." will result. Such a policy will consider how school is perceived by those who attend it and it will have to reflect an understanding of and an accommodation for varied socioeconomic contexts.

Partisan-laden political discourse has rejected wisdom and knowledge as its basis. "It's time to reclaim for politics the value of knowledge." In so doing, we will not only improve public discourse, we will begin to restore education's rightful place in public life.

Rose addresses remediation, the manufactured void between vocational education and college preparation tracks, inequality, missed opportunities, standards, measurement and much, much more. These essays are not bombshells, laden with radically new material. However, they're chilling when we compare what is to what used to be, what could be.

The current debate about education? "It has become a contentious abstraction." Not surprisingly, the details of an effective classroom can help both our nation and its schools get back on track (while also replacing cynicism with hope). Rose says it well: "...when a child learns to take another child seriously, learns to think something through with other children, learns about perspective and the range of human experience and talent...It is in such moments...that something of immense promise for the nation is being confirmed."

Jack H. Bender is the author of Disregarded: Transforming the School and Workplace through Deep Respect and Courage

Why School written by Mike Rose, is a pointless book. Throughout the book Rose, does not take a stand on any of the problems in the education system. The entire book reads as like well standardized tests work here, but our education system does not work here. It is very wishy-washy. Rose, is also very liberal in almost an offensive way, I mean this is a book about the education system, and he works how veterns are not getting proper healthcare into the book, really? Additionally Rose, provides a very positive outlook on the education system. He writes the book in such a way, that it makes the problem facing our education systme seems smaller than they are.

Rose does two thing well however, one being that he provides good examples in some places such as how, sometimes people who have not went to college/blue collar workers are sometimes better workers becasue they have a diffrent type of drive. Rose also make the problems facing the education system seem like they can be fixed without a huge overhaul-this is both a good and a bad thing.

Being in the education system currently, Rose's book annoys me becasue he does not take a stance on what he is saying, also not any where in the book does he gibe the reader "a slap in the face" I mean lets face the education system needs to change, and people may need a slap in the face to get it accomplished. However I did like his explanation of NCLB, and how he tied a lot of his points back to NCLB, but again lets face it, not every student is capable of passing, it is a nice thought, but it is just not possible.

Why School is the work of a lifetime. Mike Rose has been an educator for many, many years, and he has researched and written about the state of education for most of them. This text is the product of those years. If you loved Lives on the Boundary, this is not that book. It is far more wide-ranging and it is far more political, but Rose's passion for his subject comes off the page. With this book he is starting a conversation that we--as a nation, as individuals, as parents, as educators--need to have in order to overhaul public education. His main concern is the narrowing of the intent of education for exclusively economic ends. Further, he points out that the broad hatred of public education many people have is unfounded and, worse yet, doesn't seem open to argument. Some highlights from the book: his discussion of broad based knowledge as important to every day life as it is for economic gain; valuing the teacher as a professional on par with other professionals (like doctors and CEOs). Some people might think that a book about the state of public education would be about the least relevant thing they could read, but Rose would say, that's the whole problem. Everyone should care about education. Why School? is an inspirational book that will raise points you might not be ready to deal with, but the conversations Rose wants to start could change the road education is on.

While Mike Rose clearly cares about students, his own and in general, he does not present any solutions to the many issues plaguing American education. He does provoke thought, and tries to provide hopeful optimism to educators in particular. Why School? addresses concerns such as remediation, economics, and politics using anecdotes from his long teaching career. Unlike Rose's book Lives on the Boundary, Why School? raises the questions of why we teach, what we teach, and to what standards we hold out students. Rose reminds the reader of the original purpose of education: to provide a setting for students to develop moral values, a sense of civic responsibility, and intellectual growth. Slightly interesting to educators, those not involved in the education world would likely be bored, or feel disconnected to Rose's words.

This lovely, eloquent book about why education matters (there may not be a more timely topic) is also one of the most beautiful and elegant books I have ever seen. It is the perfect end-of-the-year teacher gift -- a deeply affiriming and thoughtful book that teachers of all grades will cherish.

Mike Rose's "Why School?" is an idealist compilation of essays focusing on the supposed failings of the education system. Rose delves into the problems surrouding the middle to lower class sections of society and how the education system is failing them. Rose consistenly references his own past and upbringing in order to connect the larger issues. Though he offers insight into the trouble areas like assessment, economy, and politics, he does not offer a complete solution to any issue. The book neglects to inform the reader about all aspects of education as he avoids discussing upper class society in favor of displaying all the cruelties of poorer communities. Rose does take an inspirational tone and attempts to empower the reader to take action, but never truly offers a way for the reader to do such. Rose does also draw on some of the benefits of the current education system and pays great attention to how he offers his opinion on things like No Child Left Behind. Overall, the book is informative and does force the reader to think about the current state of education, but tends to focus more on the authors own upbringing rather than offer suggestions on how to change the current situation.

The cover doesn't look as showed on line but it's in good condition and contains what is needed. Shipped in a good amount of time but wished it was delivered faster.