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Title: Teacher in America by Jacques Barzun ISBN: 0-913966-79-7 Publisher: Liberty Fund, Inc. Pub. Date: April, 1981 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Best of the Best
Comment: Jacques Barzun is in his nineties today and still one of the best thinkers of our time. Forty years ago both my wife and I ran across this book as we were taking wearisome ed courses in teachers college to acquire certification to teach in New York public schools. Our professors did not like Barzun then, and I am sure they don't like him today. He is down-to-earth, full of common sense, and brilliantly lucid. This was our handbook, along with Gilbert Highet's The Art of Teaching, which they didn't like either. Everything we heard in those classes was shown to be false after we began teaching, but Barzun's observations were unfailingly accurate. Any teacher who goes by this book cannot utterly fail, even in this ridiculous system which has persecuted American children for a half century.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Salute to Excellent Teaching
Comment: The hardest yet most refreshing part about reading this book is that I am 25. One can easily pick up the urgency in Barzun's words and doubtless he was critiquing the educational modifications of the time- originally published in the 40's. Since that time, every school has become the 'progressive' school that Barzun warns against- A furthering of Deweyan principles of 'It's not learning if it ain't fun' and 'true understanding is in the heart, not the head.' In an effort to make education fun and push students through at all costs, we've lost any sense of the teacher's true goal- to instruct.
I should not give the false impression that Barzun is a hard nosed, humorless curmudgeon who would turn back the clock to monotanous recitation and rote-memorization. The truth is that he is somewhere in the middle. Before the job can be done correctly, the teacher needs to gain the students willful attention and her trust. At that point though, the student NEEDS to be challenged- the student will be pushed to learn (yes, memorization may be involved), grades will be imposed and the student will- it's true-come out the better for it.
The best part is that while Barzun jabs at administrators and theorists (can't we all relate) he writes with obvious love for teachers and students, always keeping their interests in mind. While Barzun can come off as a sourpuss when poking fun at the circular Ph.D system and standardized testing, he is easily forgiven when discoursing on how and how not to teach mathematics, history, arts, literature, the sciences and writing. I only wish he would've been one of my instructors.
The only other thing I can say is that while for teachers, this book is a MUST HAVE, for students (of all ages and abilities) this book is a hidden treasure. Barzun, while giving advice to teachers and administrators, inadvertently (?) gives us tips on how to learn and more saliently, how to think. I'm confident that I will reread this many times throughout my lifetime. Bravo!!!
Rating: 5
Summary: Wow
Comment: Sure this book is a little out of date. And sure nobody knows what a progressive school is anymore. But this is a fine book. It gives a very insightful view of the problems and strengths of the American education and even though this book is over 50 yrs old, it still makes sense today. The author's style is magnificent, he is truly a craftsman who can interweave wit, humor and seriousness as smoothly as chocolate fudge oozes down a woman's naked body. I like it.
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Title: Begin Here: The Forgotten Conditions of Teaching and Learning by Jacques Barzun, Morris Philipson ISBN: 0226038475 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: May, 1992 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Simple & Direct by Jacques Barzun ISBN: 0060937238 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 18 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Art of Teaching by GILBERT HIGHET ISBN: 0679723145 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 13 March, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The House of Intellect by Jacques Barzun ISBN: 0313200718 Publisher: A Greenwood Press Reprint Pub. Date: 21 March, 1978 List Price(USD): $73.95 |
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Title: The Culture We Deserve : A Critique of Disenlightenment by Jacques Barzun, Arthur Krystal ISBN: 0819562378 Publisher: Wesleyan Univ Pr Pub. Date: 15 May, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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