Finally! A book asking "What is education for?" not just "How can we do education better?" Postman gives a balanced treatment full of great insights. Just take a look at the beginning:
Pg. ix - "I began my career as an elementary school teacher and have not for a single moment abandoned the idea that many of our most vexing and painful social problems could be ameliorated if we knew how to school our young. You may conclude from this that I am a romantic, but not, I think, a fool. I know that education is not the same thing as schooling, and that, in fact, not much of education takes place in school... To the young, schooling seems relentless, but we know it is not. What is relentless is our education, which, for good or ill, gives us no rest. That is why poverty is a great educator. Having no boundaries and refusing to be ignored, it mostly teaches hopelessness. But not always. Politics is also a great educator. Mostly, it teaches, I am afraid, cynicism. But not always. Television is a great educator as well. Mostly it teaches consumerism. But not always."
There's a big misconception today about what schools are. Most people believe that school = education, and that good grades/academic success = being well educated. But high schools today don't focus education; rather they mostly focus on allocating economic opportunities to those who are capable and eager to obey. And this is an important and remarkable function of schools; otherwise economic opportunities would be determined by inheritance and family connections, as in past generations. But I agree with Postman that this aspect of schooling has become dangerously overemphasized in our society; to the point where learning about society, the original "end" of education, has become nearly driven out of our classrooms. That's the danger of the whole No Child Left Behind and emphasis on standardized test scores. Education has to do with understanding how society works. This can hardly be said of too many schools today.
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About the author
What is schooling?? And the necessity of the goods
This is just a great book of Postman!! He has the hability to create with the language, arguments to unsolved questions and definitions were there is not understanding. I really appreciate to have found this author.
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2011
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Top reviews from other countries
- chad petersReviewed in Canada on December 7, 2020
This book changed the way I view everything. Postman was a prophet.
