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'I Won't Learn from You': And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment

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Book Review- Ria Caldwell
Kohl, H. (1995). I won't learn from you: and other thoughts on creative maladjustment. New Press.

Kohl is now known as the classic speaker on "not learning" or refusing to learn that results in certain students' inappropriate placement into special education programs and classrooms. Kohl begins by describing certain situations and conditions that he finds himself in, requiring him to re-evaluate what it is that our students need. Hope as he refers to as "hopemongering" is the title of one of his chapters where he cites examples of how he has had to instill or rekindle the flame of hope that students so desperately need at times. Kohl provides some examples of how a student who would be viewed as a discipline or behavior problem might in fact be practicing his "not learning" ability or "right to refuse" as I like to call it.
Kohl addresses issues in education surrounding race, culture, economic, and linguistic differences that result in the diversity of each and every classroom in the U.S. He points out that the reasons for the amount of "dropout" teachers is exceeding the amount of "dropout" students and in order for this to change we need to adopt new ways of embracing these children who are often born into poverty. He emphasizes the importance of finding balance in order to achieve maximum effectiveness with our students. He indicates that the true art of teaching comes from being able to lead students to make discoveries that create their own meaning, purpose, learning and under-standing. Not "lecturing" them on the topic of equality but instead, facilitating their own critical thinking and encouraging them to find their own strengths and weaknesses and to explore their environments with a "new set of eyes." He also talks about fear of students, traditionally the fear that "white" teachers have of "black and latino" students, I would like to call this fear "culturephobia" or "colorphobia".
I think every teacher can find a part of themselves in the numerous examples cited in the book and am glad that I was able to read the words of a man who has so much to offer the educational institutions that exist today.

Interested in maintaining the status quo? Then this book is not for you. Though evidence of Kohl's leftward leaning ideologies pervade much of the book - (while in his writing he commits some of the very biases he criticizes), his insights into purposeful and subconscious biases that our culture subjects us to are second to none. Interestingly, I find myself battling against many of the same issues as a young teacher in the 1990's that Kohl faced in the 1960's. Kohl's writing is the antithesis to the societal norm of, "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts!" For those unafraid to think critically, I heartily endorse the book. You never know where it may take you. Prepare to become a maladjusted mover and shaker!

Why won't some children learn? This is the central question of Herbert Kohl's persuasive book that mixes together history lessons, philosophy and autobiography to produce an important contribution to the discussion of education reform.

As a progressive educator of considerable foresight, Herb Kohl is aghast at the state of public education in America. He doesn't just rail against privatization, monocultural national standards or modern-day McCarthyism, he shares many colorful examples that put debates in education reform within a human context.

Kohl's useful argument is that for many more children than we think, "not learning" is a form of resistance to oppressive or unsuitable teaching. This point is stressed again and again throughout his "I won't learn from you" and Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment.

"Since students have no way to legitimately criticize the schooling they are subjected to or the people they are required to learn from, resistance and rebellion is stigmatized. The system's problem becomes the victim's problem. However, not-learning is a healthy, though frequently dysfunctional, response to racism, sexism and other forms of bias. In times of social movements for justice such refusal is often turned to more positive mass protest and demonstration and to the development of alternative learning situations." (29)

As an example, the author points to a Texas class in the late 1980s where he observed a teacher lecture Latino students on the first people to settle the region: New Englanders! Is it any wonder these children hate the books and teachers who systematically deny their heritage by claiming that white Europeans settled Texas first (not Native Americans, not Mexican-Americans)?

Coming of age in the 1960s, Kohl's autobiographical inclusions are great reading. He discusses his upbringing in the Bronx ("a Jewish ghetto"); his introduction to radical trade unions, socialism and communism; anti-Semitism at Harvard; involvement in the deaf power movement (he was sharply criticized for suggesting people use sign language to communicate with the deaf, rather than force the deaf to lip-read and learn to speak!); teaching Black nationalist students and his run-ins with school authorities over his unconventional teaching methods.

Kohl's chapter on political correctness is a must-read. He recalls the debates in the Bronx between socialists and communists, different generations of immigrants and above all, the terrible period of McCarthyism that personally affected the adults he knew. Referencing back and forth between this period and the present, Kohl savages right-wing forces that attempt to stifle progressive ideas at the University level and sabotage public education at the K-12 level.

Above all else his ability to ground his ideas in the reality of the environment most teachers operate within (instead of the fantasy world found in some teacher's education books) make his observations useful for the teachers actually likely to encounter maladjusted students. In fact, Kohl's book ends with the argument for maladjustment. Teachers must misadjust themselves to bad teaching methods, cultural insensitivity and (he hints) even the profit system.

I can take only two exceptions to this wonderful book. First, in recalling the painful period of his life around the Second World War, Kohl romanticizes emigration to Palestine and fails to challenge the racist myth of "a land without a people..." the way he encourages his readers to always do. This is really too bad considering his extraordinary empathy with people different from himself and his grasp of world history.

Second, although Kohl does not explicitly say this, the reader can be left with the impression that the world can be made a better place through widespread, progressive education alone. No doubt an important step, yet this overstates the value of education. Can a good education alone erase class divide? Of course not, we cannot all be CEOs, generals or powerful politicians (nor should we want to!) This is a task that will have to be taken up by the children themselves who refuse to accept manifestations of racism, sexism and class in the world they inherit. Their struggle will be more than just educational.

Parents, students, educators: Read this book, share it and draw inspiration from it in your own contest over the future of public education.

I had thought this book would give me insight as a teacher why some children don't learn, but it was actually stories of racist and sexist teaching practices that students were reacting to. The first example was a second grader who refused to read. The author "tricked" the student into pretending to read wherein the student replied, "see, I told you I could read." This was a story about a student who couldn't read and was embarrassed about it, not a story about a student who was refusing to learn. The author gradually brought the student along and he learns to read. In another example a teacher was teaching a group of Hispanic immigrant students that the first settlers in Texas were Europeans, in a school of mostly Hispanic students the room's walls were covered with only pictures of famous whites. In a very sad case, a student committed suicide by heroin overdose because a school counselor refused to give him a diploma because of the counselor's personal dislike of the student. This didn't even sound legal but no mention was made about the author seeking legal assistance. The book didn't bring me any insights into the students, just horror stories about bad teachers and bad school administrators. I think the book would have been more appropriately titled, "I CAN'T learn from you."

I loved the insight this author gives in his book about how to understand WHY children chose not to learn - what environments and circumstances can change the desire to learn certain things. I used to have a different philosophy about teaching "lazy, beligerent children" - but now I see that those preconceived ideas are not only unfair, but untrue.

The concept of not-learning something that could be learned is an interesting phenomenon. It is akin to not thinking about the punchline of a joke once you've already heard it. For students to consciously choose not to be a part of a debilitating society is at once revolutionary and reprehensible. This book not only helps us to understand why many of our children are where and who they must be, but also, why the teacher in each of us must do and say what we know to be right.

Herbert Kohl is a marvelous listener. In this incredible volume, he demonstrates the benefits of using both ears and an open mind together. By taking seriously his students' refusals to be taught, he theorizes the well-founded reasons for this stubborn nay-saying. All of us -- parents and educators both -- have encountered this. Kohl helps us make sense of it, and teaches how to work with it.

It was somewhat challenging following the purpose of I Will Not Learn From You. Some of the prejudices that people have, are indeed true. However, the author is not clear on the parameters of what causes some bright students to refuse to learn. He describes his own bias about not learning Yiddish as standing up for his mom. However, later on in the book he regrets this bad choice. Truthfully the feeling is that the author was not an open minded child. He adjusted somewhat as a teacher but I just can ascertain a message that the manis trying to communciate to his audience other than detailing some semi-interesting stories. Fortunately the book is under 200 pages.

"I Won't Learn from You": And Other Thoughts on Creative MaladjustmentWhat an inspiring book for educators who need insight into why some students chose not to learn. Authentic stories and personal narrative make this book superb.

I would recommend this book for anyone in the field of education. It is well-written and personable. Readers can readily identify with the author's experience. His concepts for educational change are basic yet profound. If readers are intrigued by the book's title, they will be even more surprised when they find out what it means.