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Summary: Learning From a Successful School to Help Failing Ones
Review: "Success is ignored while failure is funded," is the astute observation of one of the long-time teachers from Whitney High School in Cerritos, the number one public college-preparatory school in the state. The author of School of Dreams, Edward Humes, spent a year at Whitney as the Instructor of an essay-writing workshop. He was there to help the students skillfully sculpt the influential personal essay that would be the last piece of the college admissions puzzle. During this time he experienced the world of Whitney, with its high achievements, quirky structure, and determination to be a model of a successful school. Within this adventure the author introduces us to a variety of students, with some of the student's writings punctuating the chapters. The information in this book is presented in a narrative style, telling stories about individual students, teachers, administrators, as well as the history of the school itself. Within the chronicling of this academic magnet school, several requisite factors required to make a school successful is challenged. Part of the success of Whitney may be do to the fact that only those students with adequate scores on standardized tests are allowed to inter the school, that these students are motivated by parents with hefty dreams for them, and that this high school contains small classes that begin in the seventh grade. There are other aspects of Whitney that fly in the face of political reform, such as the need for large school budgets, technological advancements in the classroom, and standardized tests to keep teachers accountable. In some ways these reforms, indenting to raise the achievements of failing schools, are not found to be aspects that make Whitney the successful school that it is. I found exciting insight and revealing truths found in the presentation of one of the most successful public schools in the country. There are many aspects that will cause one to ponder and rethink how to approach education in the future because of the successful past of this school.
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Summary: A great example of what an American education should be
Review: ... The novel is well written and provides and in depth look at one of the most intruiging and successful academic institutions in America today. Mr. Humes is not aiming so much to provide a review of Whitney High School but more to allow the American public to see what goes on inside of this school. I found the novel to be both interesting and informative. It is true that it would be difficult to duplicate a school such as Whitney what with the given demographics, yet ideally race should not be the factor that Whitney's success should be attributed to. What makes Whitney special is the motivation and drive that the students have and that is what Humes tried to capture in the novel. I strongly recommend School of Dreams to all.
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Summary: Doesn't cover everything about the Whitney life...
Review: ...but, can a 400-page book cover everything about the life of one high school? Nope. You can only cover what you can within the number of pages allotted. Ed Humes did very well in covering the Whitney life in those 400 pages, and I speak as a 1995 Whitney alum.
There were a few great teachers I can note of that the book did not touch, but then again, you cannot cover all of them, and certainly not in 400 pages! I sure hope Ed Humes didn't get limited by the publisher because I am 100% sure he wanted more pages. But then, it wouldn't be a book that is for mass consumption. If you are looking for a more in-depth look about how Whitney came to be where it is now, don't buy this book. You'll be disappointed.
Ed gave a fair overview of Whitney...not every high school can match Whitney's philosophy but you can try. I do have a valid question about covering only one academic year because the Whitney life he described was not the same when I was there. I know he can't cover every year...but he would have covered some, if the alumni were available for him to interview.
I never drank coffee or spent college student-like all nighters @ Whitney and I'm not one of the high-achievers of Whitneyites who wanted to HYP. Still, I was one of those who felt the extremely driven pace of Whitney education, just like what Ed Humes described.
Something Ed shared is parental involvement, which is one of the keys of Whitney's success. My dad gave up some of his computers to Whitney after I went into college before the school was able to get far better equipment a few years later.
Broad generalizations may be seen by some readers but I rarely see it here. Kind of surprised that Mr. Smilde was not mentioned but well, I'd guess that is left up to the 2nd edition if there is one. Maybe he'll interview more of those who have gone through the vaunted "false walls" of Whitney in years past.
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Summary: Whose school of dreams?
Review: As a fan of Jonathon Kozol's early books about the American education system, Death at an Early Age, and the landmark Savage Inequalities, I looked forward to reading this book which showed the flip side of public schools--a high achieving school whose students were "making it." Anecdotally, the book holds up, with interesting tales of young artists whose parents thwart their talents, a kid tangled in crystal meth, etc. But like another reviewer has stated, an underlying message seems to be wanting.For example, Humes states at one point that the school is very diverse, but with roughly 80% of the student body being Asian, and no black students being mentioned in the stories, it's really hard to get a sense of what that so-called diversity means. And then there's the issue of the introduction of technology into Whitney as a gift from Neil Bush's corporate campaign. Humes could have been explicit in asking why a student body with the highest test scores in the nation is more deserving of computers in the classroom than those kids who could use a leg up, but he doesn't. What would have made this book more powerful is to have seen the other side--those kids who didn't get to go to Whitney, and how their lives were or were not impacted by that decision. Still, it's an interesting look at how teachers have adapted to changing times, and with some worthy lesson plans, makes for a decent read.
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Summary: A Private Education at Public Expense
Review: As soon as the book demonstrated that the students are chosen by an admission test, anyone who knows anything about REAL public education should have thrown this book away. It gives a good account of the stresses of high-achieving students, but to use this school as a model for public education is ludicrous. Any school that admitted only these students would seem successful. That's called a PRIVATE school. If other public schools could choose whom to admit, I guarantee their absenteeism, discipline problems, and low test scores would disappear.
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Summary: Wonderful outlook on today's top achieving high school
Review: Edward Humes aspiring book, School of Dreams is an incredible story of a top achieving public high school. The book is a satisfying read and a page-turner. It gives you a window of what happens behind high school doors. As a student enrolled in a top achieving high school I found the experiences in this book both insightful and misleading. The different types of ways in which students made themselves stay up at night and do tons of homework shows how everyone strives to be on top. Whitney is a school that attracts families from all over the world because of its high reputation. Because of all the high standards, Whitney is considered mostly Asian. Whitney is not a high school that is preparing its students for college or the outside world and realities. It is a school that is all about scoring the highest on the college placement tests. It is a story of 'pushed' students often driven by parents to achieve excellence. School of Dreams is a story for someone who wants to know about a student's life underneath the skin at a top achieving high school. Also, to see what lengths teachers and parents put on their students to get into a top university. And to reveal what hardships parents put on their child psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually to earn that top grade.
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Summary: Not what you think...
Review: Edward Humes has written an engrossing and balanced book that is useful for anyone concerned with public education in America. The writing style, combining the author's first-hand experiences with those of the students and teachers, is compelling and very readable. I recommend it. But that's saying what the book is; I want to comment on what it is not, and was not supposed to be as far as I can tell. Some other reviewers seem to have missed the point. Some of the Whitney alumni express disappointment that the book does not completely mirror their experiences. I doubt if they were the target market of the book. Other, more detached people wished the book was an academic study that could be broadly applied without interpretation to other environments. That is certainly not true and I don't think the author hides that fact. Whitney is an exclusive school that creme skims the best students from the local area and draws other, would-be students from around the world. No secret there. But it still serves as an example, in the extreme, of the benefits and costs of what a great many educators think are the key features of success. The one example that comes up over and over again as a double-edged sword is involved parents. The kids at Whitney no doubt benefit greatly, in the narrow sense of that word, from parents that stress achievement and place that well above any other objective in their children's (and their own) lives. That this comes at a significant cost comes out clearly in the book. Similarly, the narrowness of students' world view is also laid bare, despite teachers' efforts to the ameliorate the situation. I read this book as a father who wants to encourage his daughters to succeed and to put aside ephemeral pleasures that might stand in the way of that success. At the same time, I have been very conscious of overdoing it, of creating an unbalanced environment for my children. The importance of getting this balancing act right was underscored by my reading of this book. I'm still working on it. That said, it is true that the book could have done a bit better, particularly in trying to relate what the reader can draw from the Whitney experience for the broader world. The authors attempts on this score in the Epilogue and the accompanying endnotes do not satisfy since he cannot control for the effect of those highly motivated Whitney parents. There simply isn't enough of this for my taste. There are remarkably few allusions in the book to what the academic literature has to say about education, and they appear without references. Still, there are lots of other books that one can consult on those topics. For me, this book works nicely at what it seeks to do.
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Summary: Interesting case study of a top California high school
Review: Humes details the turnaround of Whitney High in Cerritos, California, which went from the brink of extinction, where local schools dumped failing students, to becoming the number one school in California. This is an example of what can happen when schools set high expectations for their students. Although a public jr./sr. high school, students must take an admittance test to be enrolled at the school. Once enrolled, students are told that they must apply to at least 5 colleges, including at least one public and one private. Most of the students aim for Harvard, Yale or Princeton, due to parental pressure.
As the parent of a high school student, I found this book to be very interesting.
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Summary: Read it for yourself
Review: I am disturbed by some of the reviews here. It is clear to me that reading comprehension is a serious problem -- even for some Whitney alumni. If you're looking for definitive answers you won't find them in this book. However, a critical analysis and a little creativity and guts can use the Whitney experience as presented by Humes to improve any school. If you're so blindly a devout republican who cannot stand any criticism of someone named Bush, then you'll miss the important lesson in the Neil Bush episode. Obviously, Hume did not take the reader by the hand to explain it. Perhaps he gives his readers more credit than some deserve. The book is wonderful. If you're interested in improving education in general, or just for your own children, School of Dreams will give you clues and tools to help you help yourself... but no master plan... no step-by-step. Imagine that -- Humes has given us a book that presents the material like a good teacher.
Rating:
Summary: A great story about a great school
Review: I attended the "School of Dreams" and I loved this touching and insightful book. The author got it right. No one is talking about success in public schools these days. And by anyone's definition, Whitney High School, the setting for School of Dreams, is a great success and an example of public education at its best. Sure, the students are stressed and pressured and some of our parents are too ambitious for us. Sometimes we focus too much on grades and test scores instead of real learning. Some of the students are very resentful and negative as a result, but most want to be there. I would never have chosen to attend high school anywhere else. This book really tells the truth about our teachers, the school, and the students, and includes both the positives and the negatives so readers can judge fro themselves if Whitney provides a valid model for improving schools everywhere. Parents of high achieving students especially should read this book so you really know what we go through.
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