Rating: 
Summary: A little too honest for some people's taste
Review: I was also a senior when Elli Burkett came to our school. I was interviewed, but not used in this book. However, I would like to express my opinion that this book is very honest. The book is accurate on how I remember highschool. I was one of the students in Ms. Corey's College Prep Comp classes and I was there through all the events. I was also in Mr. Carr's classes. She skillfully and honestly represents events of that time and place and I truly enjoyed the book. It is very well written.
Rating: 
Summary: Biased
Review: I went to Prior Lake High School and knew all of the people she wrote about, I actually refused to sign one of her consent forms allowing her to use my name in the book (she mentioned it once anyway). Roger Murphy, Jayne Garrison, and Randy Henke were my best friends. But, contrary to what she wrote, Roger was NOT the only black student, just the only one of his friends who was black. To be honest, it wasn't a big deal, to him or anyone else. Ellie came to Prior Lake seeking out a handful of personality types to write about, as far as the students were concerned. She sought out the "alternative" kids and the "popular" kids, and completely ignored the middle ground where most of Prior Lake is, the silent majority in her book. Also, Prior Lake is NOT a typical high school. Prior Lake is an affluent community due to the lake and the casino nearby, making the school a powderkeg for dysfunction. Also, the town boasts more bars and liquor stores than gas stations. When I was in school, Prior Lake had the highest per capita arrests for underage consumption in Minnesota or Wisconsin. The kids she chose to fill her stereotypes were misrepresented most of the time, and what remained was complete fiction. Some of it, yes, is true, but written about in such a light as to be taken the wrong way. On another hand, kids put on a show for her, some of the people she wrote about all but reinvented themselves for her. Nick, the "young James Dean" as she put it, was never like that at all until she came along, he was a quiet, studius, well-behaved kid with slightly above average intelligence. The only saving grace of the book was the parts about the plight of the teachers.
For all its negativity, Prior Lake does have some amazing teachers. Ron Lachelt is really referred to as "god" by some of the students and not without reason. He is a truly brilliant man and an excellent teacher, someone who commanded respect from everyone. I was Mara Corey's teacher aide for a trimester and her student for two, she was and is my favorite teacher ever. Joe Gorake was not so disliked as Ellie tried to make out, Gorake commanded his own kind of respect, and the students that didn't like him only did so because he tried to make them apply themselves. But, again, the book came too little, too late. Ms Corey did not come back for the 2001 year, and the year before Ellie came on her "crusade" another great teacher was forced into retirement. The book says nothing about Gale Mord, but if she had truly paid attention to the students, it would have. If you read this book, please take her student representations with a grain of salt (in most cases, more than a grain).
Rating:
Summary: cost
Review: I will pay some one to take my copy of this binding with paper in-between it. It was that bad.
Rating:
Summary: The Kids Are Not Alright....
Review: Ignore those who "protest too much," this book is an eye-opening and all-too-accurate indictment of American education and most depressingly, American youth. Those who find fault with the details of Burkett's book are, predictably, missing the big picture: American schools are not suffering from a financial crisis, but rather ache under the weight of apathy, grade inflation, celebrated conformity, and the commodification of knowledge. Burkett's book is sobering and depressing, yes, but she illuminates a crisis that goes beyond dollars and class size. The kids, representative as they indeed are, would fail to embrace learning for its own sake even if schools were golden palaces and teacher-student ratios were 1:1.There are voices of reason in Burkett's book (a few "old school" teachers who believe in failing those who underperform, as well as students like Reilly, who is a constant breath of fresh air and on-target cynicism), but too often New Age "feel-goodism" wins out over truth and logic. As the author points out, many (if not all) of the problems in our schools (especially violence) are the result of inflated egos, not "wounded wallflowers." Those who approach education as a commercial endeavor (with smug entitlement guiding their actions) will inevitably see low grades and poor test scores not as indications of ignorance or sloth, but rather as "plots" by "unfair" teachers and "hostile" school environments. Burkett, in bringing us this story of a Minnesota high school, also presents an entire culture limping into the madness of mediocrity. It's all here: the medicalization of failure (ADD, ADHD, ODD, and other illegitimate excuses to avoid personal responsibility), uncooperative and irate parents (proving that the rotten apple truly does not fall too far from the tree), degraded and abused faculty (who often give in rather than fight), and the neverending debate over how best to educate our demon spawn. Higher standards? More tests? Stronger teacher accountability? Burkett, unlike many sanctimonious politicians, does not offer a single solution. Instead, she demonstrates that the destruction of learning -- the very idea that knowledge can be valued for more than what it does for us materially -- is a culture-wide phenomenon; that before we crucify the educators, we need to examine the culture that these kids internalize and learn to value BEFORE they enter the halls of learning. Perhaps our collective anti-intellectualism and sanctioning of ignorance (via a crass consumer culture that refuses to endorse learning that is not immediately transferred into profit and productivity) are culprits. Still, I thank Ms. Burkett for her wit, her perspective, and her understanding that the kids, far from being overachieving wonders of the world, may in fact be the manipulative monsters they are often "unfairly" stereotyped as being. High GPAs and sparkling transcripts, after all, do not indicate learning, only an understanding of and willingness to play the game -- rigged as it certainly is.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent look at today's suburban schools...
Review: Ms. Burkett has written a very engaging narrative about today's suburban schools. Not only is it easy to read and hard to set down, it's right on. I recently left a career of teaching, and I can vouch for many of the things that she describes. She goes out of her way to portray the faculty and students of the school accurately -- from the teachers who give the job everything they have, to the students who could care less, and everybody in between. This book is a must-read for anybody who is considering joining the teaching profession -- it will help them realize what they're getting into, as well as help them realize just how wonderful the job can be at times.
Rating: 
Summary: A current Prior Lake Students review
Review: Ok as of right now i am a sophmore in high school. I attened the high school that this book was written about and i know alot of the people mentioned and others who graduated that year. I think that alothough the book focused on the certain kids to much and some of the teachers too much its basically a good true to life diary of what went on. She was trust worthy so most students felt like they could talkto her so she knew what was going on. Kids really do do drugs, get pregent, get aressted , fight with parents and each other and and talk about our teachers and i don't think that should shock any one. Though when it came out in my town people freaked. So of course with all the adults mad about it every teen went out to buy the book. What i read was noithing surpring or out rageouse ( and i was disspapointed with all the uproar about it i figured it must be scandilouse.) in fact i thought she went easy on letting alot of the stuff that goes on be left out of the book. All in all if your not toatlly out of touch with teenagers today this book won't be anything surpring about teens. And if you live in our around pl is a funny read !!!
Rating: 
Summary: A Big Surprise
Review: Sometime in October, I had heard that the book Another Planet was coming out to bookstores across the country. I was awfully excited to go and pick up my own copy for it was about the most important year in my high school life. Ellinor Burkett had come to our school for a year to write about a typical suburban high school. There was a definite feeling of excitement throughout the school when we heard this news. There were many feelings of, "why would someone want to come to sleepy old Prior Lake and write about us?" So, this news was quite a shock and pleasant surprise to us. Finally, we were getting noticed! When I picked up the book and started reading it, it was very fun and nostalgic to look back on my senior year which Elli wrote about. However, as I got more into the book, I realized just how much it wasn't a story about a typical suburban high school at all. It was all about what Elli was looking for and the extremes of our school. My sister and I have tried to give her input about our school, we've tried to talk to her, but none of that input was featured in the book. I would consider my sister and I to be one of the "typical" students in the school. Maybe we don't have very exciting lives to write about, but if Elli was looking for a typical high school, she should have written about one. The information in the book may be true, but there is so much more about Prior Lake High School that you cannot discover by simply reading the book.
Rating:
Summary: title
Review: The book was shably written. It was full of run on as well as incomplete sentences. The subject jumped around to much making the reader lose what the setting or topic was. It was full of not only misinterpritations, but details and quotes that were falsified. While few parts were true and most of the topics were topics that most people with in any comunity do not wish to accept nor discuss, over all it was shabely reserched. Due to poor writting ability it made for rough reading.
Rating:
Summary: Recognizable
Review: The most impressive thing about ANOTHER PLANET is Prior Lake High School's willingness to air its dirty laundry. I was a teacher for twenty years, and, believe me, there are very few administrators like Dr. Olson.
The set-up is this: Journalist Elinor Burkett was to be given almost unlimited access to students, teachers, administrators and parents for an entire year. She was looking for a suburban school about the size of Columbine and Prior Lake fit the bill.
I have to say that I enjoyed the book, especially the kids. Burkett includes a "Cast of Characters" within the first few pages. The inside covers are also used as a photo gallery. I kept paging back to find whomever she was talking about at a given time. Another remarkable fact: she used real names, had everybody sign a release before she'd talk to them.
Many of the kids fit specific "types" we've all met when we were in high school: Tony Lorenz, the cocky co-captain of the football team; Ashlee Altenbach, the pot-smoking ADHD student; Marissa Clausen, Goth princess; and my favorite, Reilly Liebhard, school genius.
The teachers are "types" are well: There's Joe Goracke, from "the old school"; Lori Boynton, assistant principal and resident hardass, and Mary Haugen, director of activities and athletics, who insists on calling sports co-curricular activities. The most compelling are the newbies, Mike Carr, first-year social studies and Mara Corey, first-year English. Burkett follows them around unrelentingly, exposing their every foible. Corey loses her job, mainly because she runs afoul of the less-liberal element in her department.
Lots of issues are analyzed here.The cluelessness of the faculty for one thing. They think the dates written on the bathroom walls signify another Columbine-like event, when in really they advertize a national pot-smoking day. Even the NHS students show up for it, as does Burkett. She also hits the "self esteem" fad hard. Teachers are not allowed to say anything negative about students, lest they damage their fragile egos. Burkett blames this for the mind set that led to Columbine.
I have to say that when I first read the book I thought Burkett had an ax to grind (She does admit at one point that high school was not a good time for her), but I must admit she got most of it right. There's the popularity contest going on, among the teachers, there's the petty bickering and back stabbing in the lounge, there's the problem with discipline (everyone else has one, but not me) and there're the sweet, lovely parents who won't stand up for the teachers. Bring on the computer classrooms!
Rating:
Summary: She's right on!
Review: This account of a year in the life of a suburban high school near Minneapolis could have been told about many large suburban high schools. Having worked in one for many years, I can say that she is "right on" in her portrayal of kids, teachers, administrators, and the pressures put on each by a society that hasn't really figured out what a high school needs to do and be in the 21st century. It's not always pleasant reading. The truth isn't always pleasant.
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