Doing School": How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students

Rating:
Summary: GREAT Read
Review: I was browsing through my library's High School/College section and in it I spotted the interesting title and design of the book. I decided to check it out and read it and within reading the first 2 pages I was completely immersed in it. This book is AMAZING. It really gives you a glimpse into these 5 students lives and ALL they have to do and put up with. Its also written very well, the writing is very effective.
The thing is I'm in 8th grade, going to be a freshman next year, and ALREADY I can see these things start to happen. I already see the start and/or development of the tactics that the 5 students do to "survive" in school, the cheating, the copying, and the plagiarism among others. And another thing, like this is really worrisome for me, I mean I can already see myself as an "Eve" clone, studying all the time, having ZERO life, in order to get into an Ivy. But is there ANY other option but to do these things? I don't believe so. It seems like if students don't do all these things they WON'T "succeed" grade-wise in high school and then WON'T get into a good college, won't get high paying jobs and be successful, what kids like the ones described (and I) want to get. It seems like its the only choice. And what are people going to do about it? NOTHING. It would take forever to reform all of our high schools and middle schools and odds are it wouldn't succeed. So are we pretty much just STUCK where we are? Really seems like it, and its pretty bad. I WANT to be engaged in learning and all of those things, but by the look of it, it seems like that won't happen in high school. You never know though, right?
Anyways, this is an EXCEPTIONAL book and everyone should read it (especially anyone with an education related occupation, such as a teacher). I wish more adults read this kind of stuff and were aware of what goes on every weekday from 7 AM to 2 PM at their local (and maybe their kid's) high school. The high schoolers already know. I highly, highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: These poor students!
Review: I couldn't help but feel compassion for the students described in Denise Clark Pope's book. These students feel so much pressure from parents, teachers, and administrators to take tough classes, achieve high grades, and get into "good" colleges. As a result, the students are constantly stressed out about every test and assignment. They are often sick as a result of overwork and lack of sleep. Conflicting expectations from classes, extracurricular activities, jobs, and family life add to this pressure. And when the students actually find assignments or activities that engage them and stimulate them intellectually, they are often forced to limit their involvement with these activities in order to spend more time building attactive college admissions portfolios.

As I read Pope's book, I thought about the college students I teach. I hope that they don't feel the pressure and stress that the students shadowed by Pope do. I hope that they can find meaningful learning experiences in their college coursework and that they aren't just "doing school."

Rating:
Summary: Calls for even larger change in the end.
Review: The book centers on five students that the author shadowed during a year of high school. The students attended a high school where 95% of its graduates attend college. Now most teachers of "lesser schools" (like my own that sends 2% to college) will echo Pope's colleague's comment that "I wish my students had some of those problems" but I do think that all schools possess students who are stressed-out even if they are flunking. The students in this book were forced to cheat, act different, etc. in the pursuit of high grades. The author mainly addresses the "force" as coming from the inadequately structured school system, family, and in the end, America itself. I was looking for some insight from students regarding how school can be better. A few of the students had some respectable suggestions such as fostering student engagement by allowing students to pursue topics that actually interested them and connected to other courses as well. But combine that suggestion with the one that espouses the need for getting rid of letter grades and you have a book that works only half the time. While I too would love to eliminate grades (much like art teacher Mr. Freeman in the novel Speak) we need to have some written measure of how well the students meet their goal or demonstrate mastery. And while I agree that the school system is not a place that fosters learning (ironically), I agree with Pope that much more than just the schools need to be changed: America's own stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated culture needs to change. Maybe if that changed America would have fewer schools that had such high apathy and low college attendance rates.

Rating:
Summary: Calls for even larger change in the end.
Review: The book centers on five students that the author shadowed during a year of high school. The students attended a high school where 95% of its graduates attend college. Now most teachers of "lesser schools" (like my own that sends 2% to college) will echo Pope's colleague's comment that "I wish my students had some of those problems" but I do think that all schools possess students who are stressed-out even if they are flunking. The students in this book were forced to cheat, act different, etc. in the pursuit of high grades. The author mainly addresses the "force" as coming from the inadequately structured school system, family, and in the end, America itself. I was looking for some insight from students regarding how school can be better. A few of the students had some respectable suggestions such as fostering student engagement by allowing students to pursue topics that actually interested them and connected to other courses as well. But combine that suggestion with the one that espouses the need for getting rid of letter grades and you have a book that works only half the time. While I too would love to eliminate grades (much like art teacher Mr. Freeman in the novel Speak) we need to have some written measure of how well the students meet their goal or demonstrate mastery. And while I agree that the school system is not a place that fosters learning (ironically), I agree with Pope that much more than just the schools need to be changed: America's own stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated culture needs to change. Maybe if that changed America would have fewer schools that had such high apathy and low college attendance rates.

Rating:
Summary: what a find!
Review: When I found this book on the bookshelf at the library, I couldn't believe my eyes. A book about how I feel. These 5 kids are so similar to myself and my friends at school. Most of my student body sees me or my friends as those kids who are going to be going to UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, or an Ivy League. It's a lot of pressure on all of us. If I get anything under a 90% on some test, everyone makes such a big deal, and the putdowns don't help any either.

I am one of those kids who doesn't get much more than 5 hours of sleep on a good day , without all the homework to worry about. On a bad day, with lots of homework, I might end up staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning, then having to wake up for school at 6. I haven't done an all-nighter, but I've had friends who've had 2 all-nighters in one week, and she was on the verge of going crazy from lack of sleep. Weekends are the only time I can catch up on sleep, but I can't sleep in because of all the homework that I'd put off during the week that I'd have to finish on the weekends.

I don't relate to just one of the 5 kids, but certain traits are similar to mine, like when Eve talks about how her friendships with people are strained because they are all competing for the same grade. Same with when Kevin brushes off a "B+" as no big deal, but really wanting that "A", I totally understand where he's coming from, because that's how I am.

I think that this is a book that everyone should read, whether or not you want to believe it, since what is there is true for a lot of kids, and maybe if it is known that all the pressure on us really takes a toll on our lives, then maybe this pressure with be lifted.

Rating:
Summary: what a find!
Review: When I found this book on the bookshelf at the library, I couldn't believe my eyes. A book about how I feel. These 5 kids are so similar to myself and my friends at school. Most of my student body sees me or my friends as those kids who are going to be going to UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, or an Ivy League. It's a lot of pressure on all of us. If I get anything under a 90% on some test, everyone makes such a big deal, and the putdowns don't help any either.

I am one of those kids who doesn't get much more than 5 hours of sleep on a good day , without all the homework to worry about. On a bad day, with lots of homework, I might end up staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning, then having to wake up for school at 6. I haven't done an all-nighter, but I've had friends who've had 2 all-nighters in one week, and she was on the verge of going crazy from lack of sleep. Weekends are the only time I can catch up on sleep, but I can't sleep in because of all the homework that I'd put off during the week that I'd have to finish on the weekends.

I don't relate to just one of the 5 kids, but certain traits are similar to mine, like when Eve talks about how her friendships with people are strained because they are all competing for the same grade. Same with when Kevin brushes off a "B+" as no big deal, but really wanting that "A", I totally understand where he's coming from, because that's how I am.

I think that this is a book that everyone should read, whether or not you want to believe it, since what is there is true for a lot of kids, and maybe if it is known that all the pressure on us really takes a toll on our lives, then maybe this pressure with be lifted.