Rating: 
Summary: a close reading
Review: I'll start with a disclaimer. I'm a Whitney alum, so let's get a few inaccuracies and omissions out of the way. First, the big orange lockers were not part of the original décor; they were installed in the late 1980s, a vast improvement over the old one foot by one foot sorry excuses for lockers. Second, despite not having a gym way back then, Whitney still offered an impressive array of varsity sports, including basketball, tennis, and water polo. And third, unless the food in the Hutch has gone completely downhill over the past decade, it was never *that* bad. That said, as a scholar, I think Hume has written a good ethnography within a solid historical context. I have no doubt that if he'd spent a few more years on the campus, the picture he paints would be even more revealing, simply because he would have been able to share even more insight from a wider variety of people. (Perhaps this volume would then include interviews with my favorite teachers who are still teaching at Whitney, Mrs. Breik, Mrs. Kesinger, and Mrs. El Moussa, and maybe even a few in-depth portraits of students that were more like me!) In all honesty, however, I can't imagine the average reader wanting to read much more than the existing 400 pages. From an educator's point of view, here's what I think this volume has to offer to K-12 teachers and administrators: 1) Get parents involved. Parents have a vested interest in their children's achievement. Take advantage of their natural enthusiasm; the next time you run into obstacles with the school board, get your parents to attend a board meeting. 2) Believe in your students. It doesn't matter if you enroll your students through an admissions test or they came straight off the streets. If you believe in them, they will succeed. 3) Use technology wisely. Computers are not a cure-all. In fact, they can even be a hindrance. Don't let them displace a well-designed traditional curriculum. Use them only where they are relevant. Finally, as a parent, I find Hume's treatise to be a useful cautionary tale. Despite having attended Whitney not too long ago, I'd already forgotten much of what it was like, and this book brought it all back: the students' misguided focus on grades, the pressure cooker atmosphere during comps, etc. One parent's confession was especially poignant - she didn't know what it was like because her daughter never said anything to her. I want to teach my children to try their best but know how to have fun, and it's good to be reminded that what we don't say is just as important as what we do say.
Rating:
Summary: a close reading
Review: I'll start with a disclaimer. I'm a Whitney alum, so let's get a few inaccuracies and omissions out of the way. First, the big orange lockers were not part of the original décor; they were installed in the late 1980s, a vast improvement over the old one foot by one foot sorry excuses for lockers. Second, despite not having a gym way back then, Whitney still offered an impressive array of varsity sports, including basketball, tennis, and water polo. And third, unless the food in the Hutch has gone completely downhill over the past decade, it was never *that* bad. That said, as a scholar, I think Hume has written a good ethnography within a solid historical context. I have no doubt that if he'd spent a few more years on the campus, the picture he paints would be even more revealing, simply because he would have been able to share even more insight from a wider variety of people. (Perhaps this volume would then include interviews with my favorite teachers who are still teaching at Whitney, Mrs. Breik, Mrs. Kesinger, and Mrs. El Moussa, and maybe even a few in-depth portraits of students that were more like me!) In all honesty, however, I can't imagine the average reader wanting to read much more than the existing 400 pages. From an educator's point of view, here's what I think this volume has to offer to K-12 teachers and administrators: 1) Get parents involved. Parents have a vested interest in their children's achievement. Take advantage of their natural enthusiasm; the next time you run into obstacles with the school board, get your parents to attend a board meeting. 2) Believe in your students. It doesn't matter if you enroll your students through an admissions test or they came straight off the streets. If you believe in them, they will succeed. 3) Use technology wisely. Computers are not a cure-all. In fact, they can even be a hindrance. Don't let them displace a well-designed traditional curriculum. Use them only where they are relevant. Finally, as a parent, I find Hume's treatise to be a useful cautionary tale. Despite having attended Whitney not too long ago, I'd already forgotten much of what it was like, and this book brought it all back: the students' misguided focus on grades, the pressure cooker atmosphere during comps, etc. One parent's confession was especially poignant - she didn't know what it was like because her daughter never said anything to her. I want to teach my children to try their best but know how to have fun, and it's good to be reminded that what we don't say is just as important as what we do say.
Rating:
Summary: Education Book of the Year
Review: If you read one book about education in the New Year, make it School of Dreams, the story of a school that works, teachers who inspire, and kids who give us hope for the future. Whitney High was a public school with no money and run-down facilities that remade itself at the grass roots level into the top school in California and one of the best in the USA. But Humes gives us more than the story of a public school that works. He writes intimately of the lives of high-achieving students, the pressures they face (and are subjected to by parents) and the sometimes overwhelming temptations to cheat or cut corners they struggle with in a test-obsessed culture more interested in grades and scores than in the best possible learning experiences. A must-read for parents and teachers who wonder where are schools are headed... and where they could be.
Rating: 
Summary: Simplistic and intellectually unchallenging book
Review: If you're interested in this book, you are, like me, probably an alumnus of WHS. Who else would want to read this book anyhow? It's not like the success of WHS can be easily duplicated in other places. There's not many places where you can have a small public school in a highly Asian demographic community with a restrictive admissions test that almost certainly guarantees a self-selecting and self-motivated student body that will excel academically. And for this reason, it's no surprise that WHS crushes all other public schools as far as standardized testing goes. And for this same reason, it's silly of the author, Edward Humes, to posit that the critics of public schools have it all wrong because WHS is proof of a public school that succeeds. You see, underlying his narrative is his thesis that WHS is proof that an under-funded, under-staffed public school with lousy facilities can nevertheless succeed. His proofs, of course, are the dazzling statistics WHS produces in terms of SAT scores, standardized tests, etc. This is rather simplistic because anyone with common sense would attribute the school's academic prowess to its self-selective and highly unusual demographic composition. I would give Humes more credit if he had the guts to admit the following: that the teachers don't really matter at WHS. Indeed, some of us would even assert that WHS students excel in spite of poor teachers. But this is a harsh thing to say and Humes has neither the insight nor the guts (nor the ability) to present it. As WHS alumni know, the self-motivated kids at WHS exceed not because of standards imposed by their teachers, but because of standards imposed by their peers/predecessors/parents. Of course, there are notable exceptions. But Humes (largely) ignores the most exceptional WHS teachers (and there are only a handful). Instead, he wastes time describing the current principal as being a huge factor of WHS's success. Really? The truth is, any WHS principal has the easiest public school job in America. Just sit back, ride the students' coattails and take credit for their achievements. This is what all the previous principals did, all of whom enjoyed terms where WHS was the #1 school in CA, and none of whom were responsible for it. To Mr. Humes credit, he does devote some attention to Mr. B, the U.S. history teacher, who is indeed one of WHS's few faculty gems. But this kind of treatment is sparse. How could there be no mention of the fabulous Mr. S, another history teacher and one of WHS's noteworthy faculty members? If Mr. Humes were intellectually critical and honest, he would also give us vignettes of some of the really lousy faculty members at WHS. It seemed like as a courtesy he just ignored those facets of the faculty completely. Another weakness of his book is that he focuses on one school year: 2001-02. I understand why he does that in terms of having a coherent narrative, but by focusing on just one year, and skipping over WHS's history (he devotes a few superficial pages to it but nothing substantive), he fails to raise and explore these issues: How has the parental/peer pressure to succeed academically affected alumni later on in their lives? How do WHS students perform in college, where success comes more from creative and original thought as opposed to rote memorization? Have WHS alumni over the past 20 or 30 years done anything remarkable or exceptional? Or have we just churned out a number of doctors, lawyers, and businessmen who have taken a safe, pre-packaged road to success? These are difficult questions, and Humes has no position, no ability, no insight, and no way to answer these. So he eschewed the more complex issues and wrote an easy book filled with easy answers. I don't blame him for this. Neither do I commend him for it. Finally, Humes has this obsession with taking cheap shots at the Bush family that manifests itself throughout the book. It's seriously annoying and his obsessiveness makes him an even less credible author.
Rating:
Summary: School of dreams...future of reality
Review: It was a special opportunity to read a book about something so close to my heart. It's been more than a decade since I wandered sleepily through the halls of Whitney High School, but through Hume's honest portrayal it's as though I never left. Memories of feeling "never good enough" came hurtling back only to be replaced with the gratifying realization that like me, the kids in the book will soon find it's what they learn in the proverbial classroom of life that truly matters. Whitney gets you to college, you get you through life. I urge parents who view Whitney as the Holy Grail to read this book carefully and then read everything in quotation marks again. These are the voices of your children. These were the words in my head that never found a voice...until now.
Rating: 
Summary: Deserving of the praise
Review: Not far into David Hume's acclaimed book about the life inside one of America's most pressure-packed public schools, the author quotes a teacher who sums up high school life succinctly. Schools are like organisms, the teacher said, because you never can identify exactly how and what makes them go. For those who claim to carry the quick fixes to an education system said to have been broken off and on for the last 50 years, take that advice. And just when you think you have all the answers, read Hume's book about Whitney High School. Using a formula of high expectations, partental involvement and a selective admissions process, Whitney has built one of the jewels of the California educational system with about 95 percent of the students college bound and SAT scores to drool over. But before principals nationwide begin to copy the forumla, Hume illustrates the neagative variables to such success. This school has been built on the backs of automatons who begin their quest for the HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) track as early as third grade. Hume characterizes life at Whitney as a six-year experiment in nerves. Like the physics projects illustrated in the book, some students are one Alka-Seltzer short of an emotional explosion. AP classes and numerous extra-curriculars are means to the HYP end, not necessarily instrinsic desires to gain knowledge and life experience. While Hume's portrayal represents a microcosm of Whitney, it reveals the predicament high-stakes plays in the educational accountability movement. Success is not in the subjective and personal nature of knowledge, but the impersonal (hence the faceless student on the cover of Hume's book and pictureless inside) ranking on standardized tests. While Whitney may be at the top, others school continually try to knock it off, using the same twisted reason a Whitney junior spends $1,000 to increase his SAT score to 1560 then decides to retake it again -- "You can never have too high a score." I believe in high expectations and no excuses for schools and students, but I am wary of a federal system trying to devise a formula to improve the education of tens of millions of children controlled by tens of millions of variables. When you try to control the beast, the beast ultimately ends of controlling you. Whitney students are perfect examples. However, if Hume's book shows anything, it is that not just parental involvement is key to educational success, but local (not state or federal) control is vital to the success of any school. For whatever negative side effects, Whitney's formula works well for them. It is up to other schools to create their own.
Rating:
Summary: From the Orange Dragon
Review: School of Dreams. Edward Humes. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2003. 362 pages. The United States of America was declared its own country on July 4th 1776. Since then America has grown to be the fourth largest country in the world as well as one of the richest - these things combined with our military prowess have molded the United States into a world "super" power. However, these positive constants may soon vary, and end if a daunting problem with our everyday American lives is not addressed, our public schooling. According to many political "informatives" our national Grade Point Average and therefore our test scores (SAT, ACT, etc.) are faltering, meaning that the United States will begin "producing" inferior and ineffective children. Edward Humes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has compiled much on this topic: all of which he discusses in his new book School of Dreams.
Humes gets to this information in a very round-a-bout way - through his study on America's third best public school, Whitney [located in Cerritos, California; just outside of Los Angeles]. At the beginning of the book Humes starts with no promises, but very good writing, including some that's not his, but written by actual Whitney students which just begins to showcase their talent. Throughout the book Humes describes the constant struggle that the kids who attend Whitney have - a major problem being sleep deprivation and overbearing parents, some of whom have moved from Asian countries in order for their kids to attend Whitney for six years (7-12 grade). This pressure on the kids is amplified by the fact that in order to attend students need to pass a screening test supplied by the state; even with the test there is a long waiting list for kids who want to enter Whitney and can't because the classes are all already full at this rather small school.
The main focus of the text seems mostly to inform the readers about a spectacular American school that actually works. However, very rarely does Humes relate Whitney to more ordinary schools, instead he compares it to other over-achieving schools within the United States. This gives me a very fuzzy picture of just how low our schools performance can go because the subject is only briefly touched; as well as no picture at all as to how the United States really compares with other countries in the educational "front" - which appeared to be one of the major concerns. Humes does paint one interesting picture though. He states that although our government continues to insist our public school system falls well below "our old standards" that isn't true. For that matter those so-called "standards of old" stem from a golden age in our countries history that never actually happened. Thus explaining why politicians interfere with schools, saying they're attempting to better them. After their interference those politicians like to gauge how successful they were with bogus tests like the SAT, which the students at Whitney excel at, but find ridiculous.
Overall School of Dreams is a very good read with much research put into almost all aspects. I believe that if its main purpose is not accomplished then at least the book does fulfil other purposes; for example if your child was to read this than they would likely complain much less about "all the homework" they have to do since it pales in comparison to Whitney. The most important message I drew from the book was in one of the quotes:
"Four is the magic number:
Four hours sleep,
Four café lattes, and [therefore]
4.0 [GPA]"
Today that's what a good school is all about, and going to school with this as a motto will definitely help you to succeed - however, that's saying nothing about your health. And is that really such a good thing? Edward Humes has several clear-cut thoughts on that in his book, School of Dreams. If you're wandering what they are, I recommend you read this most excellent piece of journalism.
Rating: 
Summary: didn't make the honor role
Review: several years ago, as a flourishing sportswriter (who still can't spell) i picked up a used copy of Friday Night Lights, the classic book that follows a football team in texas where the gridiron, not the grades counts.
i bought school of dreams because it seemed similar, and although i got what i paid for, the results were not satisfactory.
humes took the friday night lights formula and destroyed it. too many students, to many "certain students" or "certain faculty members" quotes were used; making some of the text read like an inside joke. the book also had the extra added bonus of pages upon pages of academic theory and data that bored me to tears as i stayed at home with two ear infections and a nasty sore throat. I also agreed with one other reviewer who thought humes took way to many potshots at the bush family (and i would cut off my thumbs before voting for any of those lunatics).
there were two refreshing parts; the example essays (any one of these students could be phenomenal journalists) and the accounts of Mr. Z's physic's experiments.
overall, i would have enjoyed fewer students with more in-depth stories. but, i find myself asking, how do i get my kids into a school like this?
Rating:
Summary: It's a book, nothing more, nothing less.
Review: The Los Angeles Times stated, "Humes'...book chronicles an entirely different group of students, with a different set of challenges." From the eye of the average unaffiliated person, this book may seem engaging, provocative, and very important to the future of education. Really, it is just a book. It is based on one journalist's perception of Whitney. It is neither the answer to any of the problems with the education system, nor is it meant to be the step-by-step guide to create a school to crank out more high scoring test takers. It is merely a book. I disagree with many of the anecdotes in the book, like the other alumni. It is a disappointment that the majority of the BEST teachers were not mentioned in the book. Also, the book fails to highlight the extent of the self-motivation that powered most of Whitney's students. I, however, cannot blame Humes for leaving certain details out, for he is only one person, who wrote a skewed book about a skewed high school. It was written, printed, and bound. It is a book.
Rating:
Summary: It's a book, nothing more, nothing less.
Review: The Los Angeles Times stated, "Humes'...book chronicles an entirely different group of students, with a different set of challenges." From the eye of the average unaffiliated person, this book may seem engaging, provocative, and very important to the future of education. Really, it is just a book. It is based on one journalist's perception of Whitney. It is neither the answer to any of the problems with the education system, nor is it meant to be the step-by-step guide to create a school to crank out more high scoring test takers. It is merely a book. I disagree with many of the anecdotes in the book, like the other alumni. It is a disappointment that the majority of the BEST teachers were not mentioned in the book. Also, the book fails to highlight the extent of the self-motivation that powered most of Whitney's students. I, however, cannot blame Humes for leaving certain details out, for he is only one person, who wrote a skewed book about a skewed high school. It was written, printed, and bound. It is a book.
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