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Summary: Miseducation -- Is parental harassment the answer?
Review: 'Parental involvement' is the core of Bennett et al.'s proposed solution to the problems arising from the neosocialist take-over of education which has focused teachers' attention obsessively on minorities. With a remorseless insistence that only 664 pages can supply, the authors set out a programme of parental activism so daunting that no ambitious parent could complain that the authors' inspiration ever failed. No advice for parents and children is too trite to be abjured by the authors:"Every morning you must send him off to school with a good night's sleep, a decent breakfast and a positive attitude towards learning." "Good penmanship requires discipline. . .we urge you to work on neatness and legibility with your child at home." "Call out vocabulary words, spelling words, or math facts to your child." Children and their teachers must be constantly monitored, hectored, rewarded and punished - the children by TV-deprivation and school principals by protests and demonstrations from angry parents. Repeatedly, ambitious parents are advised to 'spend a few minutes each day' reading to their child, listening to their child, talking with their child, improving diction, visiting public libraries, mastering computing, going out on the Net, revising drafts of the child's homework, sitting in on classes, harrying teachers, writing to the school principal or organizing parent groups. Altogether, the book offers some 1,000 advices to anxious parents as to how to fill gaps in their days, and some 500 ways of detecting failures in their children's schools. The "minutes" add up to a massive investment: apparently not a single day can develop under its own logic or with much input from the child. 'The Educated Child' offers a plausible, if undocumented critique of America's educational problems; and plenty of improving ideas which will look reasonable so long as the parent does not move from the armchair to attempt to implement more than one or two of them. What is missing is any hard core of realism, and in particular any mention of IQ. By all means, the authors occasionally favour matching education to children's "abilities" so as to supply sufficient challenge and encouragement to all; and they correctly dismiss as hooey the unsubstantiated opinion of Harvard University's Howard Gardner that there are lots of different types of intelligence (a dogma allowing teachers to maintain a febrile optimism that every child is a genius at something). Yet school tracking is buried among endless tips for what worried parents should do around the house; and Bennett et al. cannot bring themselves to mention human psychology's best-known and most researched variable which alone might provide a fair and sensible way of assigning children to different school tracks.
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Summary: Thank God, Another Great Book from Bennett
Review: As a former Education Seceratary under Reagan and Bush, Bennett spearheaded all kinds of revolutioary reforms in education which, although had zero impact on improving test scores or aptitude, gave us all something to think about, I guess. Now, in his latest litarary outing, Bennett puts his valuable first-hand insight down on paper and, once again, provides zero guidance in the way of improving our children's educational quality, but gives us somethings to think about, like prayer in school, the degrading effect of sex and violence on television and the movies, the problems with sex education, and a score of other issues which are really political issues and have nothing to do with giving our kids a good education. But this is definitely worthwhile reading if you are disturbed by the dangerous liberal eduction policies of the current administration.
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Summary: Great guide for parents
Review: As a member of a public school board of education, one thing I look for is parental involvement. I like to see large crowds at school board meetings. This book is a valuable guide for parents of children up to 8th grade. Bennett stresses parental involvement. Parents should get to know their childrens' teachers and inquire about the content of the curriculum. Much of the book sets forth what children should learn in each subject area in each grade level. I found the chapter on social studies particularly interesting because that is the subject area where "multiculturalism" and revisionism can most water down the curriculum. Clearly, we should not white wash warts in our past, but we should teach history in a positive manner, while recognizing that no culture, including ours, has a perfect past. We should teach our commonality as citizens without over empahsizing our differences. Parents should know what is being taught in schools and, where children are not being taught what children should know, the parents should be active in correcting the matter. Bennett points out that the home, as well as the school, should be a center of learning. He gives examples of activities that parents can do with children to increase their learning. He also discusses dealing with difficulties that may arise in schools, such as disciplinary problems, etc. This book also discusses innovative and controversial issues such as charter schools, home schooling, how religion should be addressed in our schools, etc. I highly recommend this book and hope that it will spur parents on to close involvemet with their children's education.
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Summary: Practical help for concerned parents
Review: As a mother of three -- one in public school, one in private and one home-schooled -- I am deeply concerned about my children's education. I've lost count of the number of books I've read in the past 16 years on educating children. Some books were worth my time, many were not. Mr. Bennett's book is standing tall at the top of my list of "best reads". I'm sure we all have horror stories coming out of our kids' education (i.e., the huge amount of wasted time in the classroom, the lack of control in the class, the political correctness of revisionist history), but this book really can help. Mr. Bennett begins by explaining the importance of a solid education that engages a child's imagination by first making sure that child can read well. He builds on that by reminding parents that the main responsibility for educating our kids rests on our shoulders, not the school's. The book goes into detail about more than the Three R's, but covers those subjects extremely well, also. He reminds us that as parents it's up to us to speak up and go to bat for our kids throughout their education thus insuring they get the help they need. Throughout the book are checklists, questions to ask your child's teachers, book lists for you to insure that your child reads what is truly worthy of his time, and tips for incorporating the arts into your child's life. This book is like having a one-on-one conversation with a great educator who will give you the confidence you need to take control of your child's education. Help your child succeed by reading this book and then putting it into practice!
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Summary: A Guide to Read and to Reference
Review: Bennett, Finn & Cribb provide for all parents what parents of special needs children have had for a long time - an individualized education plan, a guide for what their children need to learn and a yardstick to measure the school's performance. Since my children are in 3rd and 5th grade, I immediately went to those sections to see how we were doing in our tiny four school district, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we do well here, but could do better. I found their treatment of issues such as learning disabilty, ADHD and giftedness to be even handed and practical. By using this text as a guide parents (and hopefully school boards and principals) will be less inclined to jump on the latest educational bandwagon, and will instead stay focused on what needs to be done. The chapter on "Temptation and Troubles", dealing with the influences of TV, internet and sexual education is excellent, and the advice here will certainly be distributed in my practice as a child Psychologist. This is a must buy book for any parent who cares about what their children learn during these critical years.
Rating:
Summary: A Guide to Read and to Reference
Review: Bennett, Finn & Cribb provide for all parents what parents of special needs children have had for a long time - an individualized education plan, a guide for what their children need to learn and a yardstick to measure the school's performance. Since my children are in 3rd and 5th grade, I immediately went to those sections to see how we were doing in our tiny four school district, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we do well here, but could do better. I found their treatment of issues such as learning disabilty, ADHD and giftedness to be even handed and practical. By using this text as a guide parents (and hopefully school boards and principals) will be less inclined to jump on the latest educational bandwagon, and will instead stay focused on what needs to be done. The chapter on "Temptation and Troubles", dealing with the influences of TV, internet and sexual education is excellent, and the advice here will certainly be distributed in my practice as a child Psychologist. This is a must buy book for any parent who cares about what their children learn during these critical years.
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Summary: A great book
Review: For the past 20 years, Chester Finn has been a behind the scenes and in some cases, in front of the crowd leader for most of the great education reforms that have occurred in the past 20 years. Having had the great fortune to be one of Finn's students at Vanderbilt many years ago, I have had a chance to read the plethora of great books and articles that Finn has published. This is another in that series. Don't just buy this book go back and buy all his books. Finn is a great academic who is blessed with an ability to communicate to the common person. Finn may talk about the education that children receive but he is the best educator a parent can ever find. We are expecting our first grandchild in a few weeks and I want my daughter to read every book that Professor Finn ha written. It will ensure the success of my grandchild's future. Don McNay... --This text refers to the Paperback edition
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Summary: Publishers Weekly Review of The Educated Child
Review: From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly Former U.S. Secretary of Education Bennett (The Book of Virtues) and his colleagues (Finn, author of We Must Take Charge; Cribb, formerly of the U.S. Department of Education) offer American parents an impassioned and straight-shooting reference for educating their children. In prose free of academic rhetoric, the authors state: "[I]f your school is inflicting a mediocre education on your child, the sooner you know about it the better." They then present a "yardstick" by which to judge the academic quality of any school (public or private). A model core curriculum organized by grade level--primary (K-3), intermediate (4-6), and junior high (7 and 8)--presents the material clearly and logically, and helps readers assess whether a child is getting a thorough dose of English, history and geography, the arts, math and science. While blunt in their criticism of decaying academic standards (evident in grade inflation, lowered expectations for students and terrible international rankings), the authors are unequivocal in their support of dedicated educators and all those willing to hold children to the highest possible standard. Parents may question some of the model curriculum's expectations (e.g., that second graders dramatize the death of Socrates), but the authors are quick to reassure readers that the book's purpose is not to serve as a list of must-haves but rather as "inspiration and general guidance" in gaining a sense of "the knowledge and skills that should lie at the heart of a solid elementary education." Bennett is a controversial figure because of his passionate cultural conservatism. But this book, despite a brief word in favor of school vouchers, is about padagogy, not politics. It's an ambitious and commonsensical guide that will inspire both parents and educators. 100,000 first printing; 25-city radio satellite tour. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
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Summary: Hope, an advocate for a better education !
Review: Hope, an advocate for a better education, October 25, 1999, Bravo, Bill! Bill Bennett has done it again. This time in a BIG way. This book, in my opinion, is the last word on a good elementary education. It is the most concise, clear book I have read in 13 years of parenting and supplementing my kids education. With ideas taken from E. D. Hirsch core knowledge series, it is not only VERY well presented for the parent reader,but should be required reading for all teaching candidates of elementary ed. With children is grades 7, 3, and kindergarten, I am sure I will be referring to this book for many years to come! ( The reading lists are some of the best I've seen!)
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: I am currently reading this book. I am the mother of two children, 2 1/2 years old and 11 months. This book has been very helpful in allowing our family to gage where our 2 1/2 year old is developmentally. My daughter has known her primary colors and ABC's since she was 18 months old. As a parent, I want to understand what a solid based curriculum should 'look like'. We do not want our children to be 'bored' in school and Bennett provides a wonderful checklist of what a preschooler should know. He also outlines what we as parents can do with our children to foster their growth. Our primary role as parents should be to nurture and teach our children. Too many parents today want their children to be taught by strangers and they want as 'little' involvement in their education as possible. Shame on them! The greatest gift in life is having children --- Our main purpose as parents is to foster their love of learning and teach them to be moral and upright citizens. In our home, we have NEVER pushed our daughter to 'learn' her ABC's or 'learn' her colors. As an infant, I read to her and drew the letters on a Magna Doodle. After a few months of this, she was able to recognize her letters and colors. Learning can be fun and creative. We sort clothes together and she loves to help me clean the house. Involve your children in your EVERY DAY LIFE! I applaud these Authors for their insight in education and how we as parents need to be the PRIMARY source for their education!
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