"Doing School" How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students

by Denise Clark Pope
Hennepin County Library hardcover 205 pages
genre: non-fiction, educational reform

What an interesting book. She followed five students for a school year and conducted numerous interviews with them. They were all success-oriented students in a fairly success-oriented school. However, virtually all of them excelled more for the end goals of a good college and a good career rather than for the joy of learning. (Shocking, right?)

I enjoyed reading this book and thinking about my students, my children, myself. She is effective at identifying the problem (to a certain degree), but does not really suggest how to effect reform the system. It reminded me of watching a Michael Moore movie . . . after I saw Bowling at Columbine, I was SO frustrated that he did not really have any solutions or suggestions at all. He never even adequately explained WHY the U.S. has so much more of a gun culture than European countries or Canada. This book felt the same way. The author railed about the situation, but didn't suggest a way out of it.

I enjoyed the students' personal stories, especially Roberto's. What an incredible young man!