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Title: What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten? by Susan Ohanian ISBN: 0-07-138326-3 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.18 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: When Kindergarten Becomes "Kinder-Grind"
Comment: WHAT Happened to Recess and WHY are our Children Struggling in Kindergarten? by Susan Ohanian
In his foreword for this book, Alfie Kohn writes Ms. Ohanian is "our archivist of educational absurdities, fearlessly clipping newspapers and trawling the Internet" who "insists that we think about children as children." RECESS is long on documentation of educational absurdities. The bibliography is almost 12 pages of small font and many of the referenced newspaper, magazine, and journal articles can be read on Ms. Ohanian's website. Almost overwhelming!
Ms. Ohanian records students' triumphs and states: "Such triumphs are not objective. They don't appear on standardized printouts, so no high-powered committee on excellence will pay attention. But I insist that even if one anecdote is just that-a story-two anecdotes are data. And so I persist with stories..." (125)
She invites us to "look beyond the corporate charts and chants and see real children." (160) She intersperses relevant stories about real children from her own teaching experiences, as well as stories told to her by parents and teachers. Dennis eats his pencils to avoid writing. Charles learns that it's OK to be different when he reads "The Ugly Duckling." Leslie's friend Jessica teaches her to understand knock-knock riddles, a must-have skill for children. Michael learns the power of personal letters. And, kids cry over and vomit on tests. There are others.
Stories about children are the heart of this book: Ms. Ohanian's unique gift to us. Personally, I would like to have read more success stories about real children in today's public schools where they are often treated like numbered robots being processed for the global economy and fewer horror stories about the "Standardistas."
In the final chapter, Ms. Ohanian documents honorable efforts of parents and educators to change the test-prep curriculum back to kid-driven instruction for life-long learning. Some parents and educators are encouraging others to just say no to this harmful test mania by opting out of the standardized tests. There may be consequences for these battles, but we must win the war to re-establish our schools as places where people are more important than test scores.
Buy it, read it, and give a copy to any parent, teacher, or politician who reads and who cares about the future. Our children are our future. What kind of citizenry are we creating when test scores are more important than character? Character is supposed to count. We must learn from the kids in the Seattle Special Olympics who demonstrated by their actions that "what matters in this life is much more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others to win, too, even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then." (51)
Rating: 4
Summary: Should College Begin in Kindergarten?
Comment: See other review, "Kindergarten Becomes 'Kinder-Grind'".
Rating: 1
Summary: This book gives no credit to parents
Comment: My son has started grade one this year and I am shocked at the lack of accountablility in education today. This book gives no credit to parents or educators that want to know what is going on in schools. Everyone knows that standardized test are not perfect and cannot meet all the needs of an education, but neither can any formal educational method.
What are the alternatives??????
This books argues against applying scientific methods to education.
When I went to school, some years I had good teachers and tests and some years I had bad teachers and tests. With standardized testing at least there is an attempt to improve this. If the tests are no good, then they should be changed, not thrown out.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!
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Title: One Size Fits Few : The Folly of Educational Standards by Susan Ohanian ISBN: 0325001588 Publisher: Heinemann Pub. Date: 30 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities of Learning in an Era of Testing and Standardization by Deborah Meier ISBN: 0807031518 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Caught in the Middle: Nonstandard Kids and a Killing Curriculum by Susan Ohanian ISBN: 0325003289 Publisher: Heinemann Pub. Date: 18 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.50 |
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Title: The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools by Alfie Kohn ISBN: 0325003254 Publisher: Heinemann Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Reading the Naked Truth : Literacy, Legislation, and Lies by Gerald Coles ISBN: 0325003378 Publisher: Heinemann Pub. Date: 13 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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