Schools That Do Too Much: Wasting Time and Money in Schools and What We Can All Do About It

Rating:
Summary: interesting, important, but not perfect
Review: "Schools That Do Too Much" by Etta Kralovec gives insight to the "hows and whys" of where a portion of our education dollars are spent. Ms. Kralovec also takes us through a typical day in the life of a high school student. The time and money lost in our education system according to her is "eye-opening" to say the least. Although I do not agree with all of her findings as being money and time wasters; what she conveys will have you agreeing with her. Schools today are not delivering what is needed for our students. Read this direct and easy to follow book and then draw your own conclusions about today's public school expectations.

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Place to Begin Discussions
Review: As Heather Martin-Zboray states in her review, this is a book well worth reading. Its suggestions are simple but radical for most Americans: let community groups sponsor sports and drama, and let the schools teach a core curriculum!

Shifting to longer class periods (the 90-minute block); starting high school at 9am rather than 7:30am (when most scientific studies reveal that adolescents should be asleep); removing disruptive loud speakers; extending the school day so that teachers can tutor students one-on-one on a daily basis; etc. are the core of Kralovec's suggestions.

Other than overcoming community aversion to these suggestions because "things always were done OUR way," there are no real roadblocks to the suggestions here. The question is this: Does America have the willpower to try to effect effective change which truly promotes learning?

Rating:
Summary: Radical Reform with Reason
Review: In her new book, Schools That Do Too Much, Dr. Etta Kralovec advocates rethinking the amount of time and financial backing given to "school sports, DARE and extra-curricular activities", but not without rationale. She documents the toll taken upon academics from the seemingly endless stream of fundraising for one project or another. She notes that with each new societal challenge; AIDS, drugs, poverty, disrupted family units, we have expected our schools to assume responsibility for instruction on the issue, and to act as surrogate parents. Although there is undoubtedly a need for a larger community support network to support our youth, is that the role of the school? With each new program or curricula added to an already hectic week, some other piece of the day must give way. Inevitably, it is a core academic piece that is lost. With the recent increase in federally mandated standards, and a drive towards "learning results", it is especially difficult to accomplish. Kralovec acknowledges the value in special programs and extra-curricular activities, many of which grew out of progressive reform movements of the past aimed at making our communities more cohesive and nurturing places. However, in the face of nsufficient time and funding devoted to academic pursuits, she argues thatit is time to fundamentally revisit the purpose of school. We must alter the curriculum, the budget, and our own expectations to achieve success.

That the average student's day is chaotic and fragmented is more than just the "view" of Dr. Kralovec. As reported in her book, studies show that during the average high school day, a comparatively small percentage of the day is devoted to actual learning. Large chunks of precious time are squandered on moving between classes, settling into the new class, taking roll call, and the numerous and frequent interruptions from announcements,
bells, and other distractions. Furthermore, the time spent 'in class' is not always spent 'on learning'. Even the very nature of that time is examined. Research shows that the current model asks students to engage at hours when they are least able to do so, and then divides their day into ways which make it particularly difficult to focus. Perhaps from a sense of familiarity, perhaps from lack of a clear alternative, we continue to cling to this unproductive model. Kralovec offers an alternative.

Following an illustration of how to read and understand a school budget (so that parents and interested community members can see where the money is spent), Kralovec goes on to present concrete and well developed, if radical, solutions. These include doing away with homework as it is now (see her prior book The End of Homework), altering the length and structure of the school day, eliminating the bells and loudspeakers which fragment thought, respecting the time allotted to learning, and making the classroom 'sacred space'. She challenges schools and parents to revisit their long-held assumptions about what a school is, in an attempt to see what a school might be. I challenge you to read
her book, loan it to a teacher, pass it around your local school board, and start the dialogue.

Heather Martin-Zboray

Rating:
Summary: interesting, important, but not perfect
Review: Kralovec raises two interesting and important questions in this book: What should schools actually be responsible for, and how should the various "additional" (in Kralovec's view) activities and concepts be handled? She advocates removing athletics and drama from the domain of the school, placing them instead in the hands of community groups and businesses, and argues that doing so will allow schools to focus more effectively on the business of learning.

Kralovec's stance is a brave and innovative one, but she barely acknowledges the fact that any such radical change would be possible only after a LOT of hard work by school and community leaders. She does recognize the fact that many people would be angry about proposing these changes. Overall, I don't feel the book does enough to make this kind of change possible -- that is, there isn't enough concrete information about how to bring about real school reform.

Kralovec uses a kind of composite sketch to describe the problems in American secondary schools; some schools are better learning environments than the author describes, and some are even less productive. She also seems to rely on a very few studies to support her ideas, and frequently speaks in generalities. The book as a whole could have been edited better for things like parallel structure, consistent verbiage, and Those Mistakes that Spell-Check Can't Help With.

I think these are important ideas, and it's clear that Kralovec really believes in her thesis. _Schools That Do Too Much_ is worth reading, but the writing itself leaves a bit to be desired. I would (actually, I did) get it from the library rather than purchasing.