Rating: 
Summary: Speaks true to my experience.
Review: If you have sat through atleast a few weeks of our industrial school system this book will resonate with you. It spoke to my "schooling" experience so well that it gave me goose bumps. It also gave me some comfort to know that this book will make it into some teachers hands. I wish my teachers would have read it.
Thank you Derrick for this great book!
Rating:
Summary: What are you waiting for?
Review: "Walking on Water" is filled with insight, wisdom, and humor by Derrick Jensen, one of the most important (although, sadly, not well known) thinkers, visionaries, and leaders of our time. This is a fascinating book -- provocative, intriguing, informative, entertaining -- albeit a bit scattered at times. Given what I know about Jensen (I have read several of his other books and belonged to his Yahoo discussion group for a while), my guess is that "Walking on Water" is a bit scattered because it is in part an interlude, almost a palate cleanser, for Jensen as he authors his next great "Radical Environmentalist" jeremiad. And what will THAT book be about? Here's a hint: it's Derrick's third "R" after Reading and Writing. Or how about the following quotes from "Walking on Water": "I hate industrial civilization...[it] is killing the planet" and we need to "change the whole system." In other words, "Walking on Water," while excellent in and of itself, is most likely something of a warmup for Jensen's "bringing down civilization" book -- the book that will represent the culmination of Jensen's thinking, activism, and life work to date (I can't wait!). As a warmup, though, if indeed that's partly what it is, "Walking on Water" is important because it focuses on the critical role played by our "industrial education" system, and the damage that this system does to to our souls, our communities, and our ecosystems. In other words, training people to think and act like unthinking, mindless, interchangeable parts coming off an assembly line may be a politically effective, cost-efficient way of holding together the industrial capitalist economic system. But, treating people like this is certainly not conducive to their well-being or to the well-being of the planet, which is being rapidly destroyed by human greed and stupidity even as we sit here. This is why Derrick Jensen's "Walking on Water" is important, because it attacks this system based on Jensen's tremendous knowledge and insight, his deep personal experience with the education system (and with fighting the worst of the capitalist system), and his skill, passion, and courage as a writer, thinker, and activist. At the risk of oversimplifying, what Jensen is (correctly) arguing and demonstrating here is that our education system is first and foremost designed to produce good worker bees for the capitalist economy, bees who will accept authority and "won't question country, God, capitalism, science, economics, History, the rule of law" or anything else, really. In other words, bees that collect honey but don't sting. What Jensen is also arguing --and showing, through his own leadership and life example -- is that it DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. Thus, we see Jensen teaching ("Principles of Thinking and Writing") in a very different way than most of us are accustomed to, both at an actual prison and also at a metaphorical one (a state university in Eastern Washington). Some of the most interesting moments in the book are when Jensen collides with people who have obviously bought into the system to an extreme degree. For instance, who knew that arranging chairs in a circle could set off such strife (the "Great Chalkboard War of 1995")? And who knew that encouraging students to think for themselves would lead one particular student, a fundamentalist Christian woman, to come to Jensen's office, to sit in his chair, to tell him he's "going to hell" (while taking "a lot of people with [him]"), and finally to drop down on her knees and start praying for him (as Jensen watches tensely to see if she's about to pull a gun on him). Finally, who knew that one-third of college students, at least in one classroom at one university in America -- answer in all seriousness that they have no interest whatsoever in thinking at all (this does, of course, help explain how 40+% of Americans can continue to support George W. Bush)? In the end, "Walking on Water" is both encouraging and depressing. Encouraging because it demonstrates that it IS possible to help people break free of the mental straightjacket they have been placed in by the "industrial education" system. Depressing because it highlights that there are perilously few Derrick Jensens out there, and because those few brave souls are fighting such a huge, powerful, rotten system. As Jensen emphasizes through his words and actions, however, we must all fight for what we believe in while living our lives as if death is at our shoulder (which, of course, it is). To quote the last words of Jensen's book: "There is much work to be done. What are you waiting for? It's time to begin."
Rating:
Summary: What are you waiting for?
Review: "Walking on Water" is filled with insight, wisdom, and humor by Derrick Jensen, one of the most important (although, sadly, not well known) thinkers, visionaries, and leaders of our time. This is a fascinating book -- provocative, intriguing, informative, entertaining -- albeit a bit scattered at times. Given what I know about Jensen (I have read several of his other books and belonged to his Yahoo discussion group for a while), my guess is that "Walking on Water" is a bit scattered because it is in part an interlude, almost a palate cleanser, for Jensen as he authors his next great "Radical Environmentalist" jeremiad. And what will THAT book be about? Here's a hint: it's Derrick's third "R" after Reading and Writing. Or how about the following quotes from "Walking on Water": "I hate industrial civilization...[it] is killing the planet" and we need to "change the whole system." In other words, "Walking on Water," while excellent in and of itself, is most likely something of a warmup for Jensen's "bringing down civilization" book -- the book that will represent the culmination of Jensen's thinking, activism, and life work to date (I can't wait!). As a warmup, though, if indeed that's partly what it is, "Walking on Water" is important because it focuses on the critical role played by our "industrial education" system, and the damage that this system does to to our souls, our communities, and our ecosystems. In other words, training people to think and act like unthinking, mindless, interchangeable parts coming off an assembly line may be a politically effective, cost-efficient way of holding together the industrial capitalist economic system. But, treating people like this is certainly not conducive to their well-being or to the well-being of the planet, which is being rapidly destroyed by human greed and stupidity even as we sit here. This is why Derrick Jensen's "Walking on Water" is important, because it attacks this system based on Jensen's tremendous knowledge and insight, his deep personal experience with the education system (and with fighting the worst of the capitalist system), and his skill, passion, and courage as a writer, thinker, and activist. At the risk of oversimplifying, what Jensen is (correctly) arguing and demonstrating here is that our education system is first and foremost designed to produce good worker bees for the capitalist economy, bees who will accept authority and "won't question country, God, capitalism, science, economics, History, the rule of law" or anything else, really. In other words, bees that collect honey but don't sting. What Jensen is also arguing --and showing, through his own leadership and life example -- is that it DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. Thus, we see Jensen teaching ("Principles of Thinking and Writing") in a very different way than most of us are accustomed to, both at an actual prison and also at a metaphorical one (a state university in Eastern Washington). Some of the most interesting moments in the book are when Jensen collides with people who have obviously bought into the system to an extreme degree. For instance, who knew that arranging chairs in a circle could set off such strife (the "Great Chalkboard War of 1995")? And who knew that encouraging students to think for themselves would lead one particular student, a fundamentalist Christian woman, to come to Jensen's office, to sit in his chair, to tell him he's "going to hell" (while taking "a lot of people with [him]"), and finally to drop down on her knees and start praying for him (as Jensen watches tensely to see if she's about to pull a gun on him). Finally, who knew that one-third of college students, at least in one classroom at one university in America -- answer in all seriousness that they have no interest whatsoever in thinking at all (this does, of course, help explain how 40+% of Americans can continue to support George W. Bush)? In the end, "Walking on Water" is both encouraging and depressing. Encouraging because it demonstrates that it IS possible to help people break free of the mental straightjacket they have been placed in by the "industrial education" system. Depressing because it highlights that there are perilously few Derrick Jensens out there, and because those few brave souls are fighting such a huge, powerful, rotten system. As Jensen emphasizes through his words and actions, however, we must all fight for what we believe in while living our lives as if death is at our shoulder (which, of course, it is). To quote the last words of Jensen's book: "There is much work to be done. What are you waiting for? It's time to begin."
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and beautiful!
Review: Derrick Jensen is truly brilliant. I've known it since I read the very first paragraph of "A Language Older Than Words". But, it's not just what Derrick Jensen says that makes his writing the best of our time--or any time--it is the way he says it. Reading "Walking on Water" feels like a personal journey into his classroom, a chance to learn how one teaches as well as how one learns (and writes). But more than that, Jensen's classroom is a place to realize what it really means to be human. I'm there. I am the girl who always sits in the back--the one who has always gotten good grades but has never really felt smart or eloquent enough to speak up or answer questions, even when I am sure I know the answers. Seeing a bright red "A" has always been enough motivation for me to want to see another. So, I am at first uncomfortable when this new kind of teacher--who is, but isn't, teaching--suggests that grades will not be given or will only be given based on standards he won't solely establish. Up until this moment, I have been taught (forced really, though I've never actually realized it) to find my own value in the marks another person (more like a long series of other persons) would give me. But as this man keeps talking and encouraging me through exercises and activities that are unorthodox and unexpected, I begin to realize that he is really showing me a world way beyond this classroom or any other cultural confinement. And suddenly, I can hear the only important questions, first spoken in ink within the pages, then repeated over and over in my mind like the sound of his voice, and then, finally, whispered from every face and force around me: who am I and, more importantly, what am I going to do about it? I no longer care to make the grade. Jensen is a master at destroying destructive mindsets while opening and enriching the mind that was so set. He removes layers of mystification, peeling each one away with awareness and care. He teaches by showing us that we can learn our own lessons. This book does so much more than expose modern education systems as the tools (training camps) of modern civilization they really are. This book awakens and inspires the creativity that is alive in each of us that has so long been silenced or sleeping or waiting to be born.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant and beautiful!
Review: Derrick Jensen is truly brilliant. I've known it since I read the very first paragraph of "A Language Older Than Words". But, it's not just what Derrick Jensen says that makes his writing the best of our time--or any time--it is the way he says it. Reading "Walking on Water" feels like a personal journey into his classroom, a chance to learn how one teaches as well as how one learns (and writes). But more than that, Jensen's classroom is a place to realize what it really means to be human. I'm there. I am the girl who always sits in the back--the one who has always gotten good grades but has never really felt smart or eloquent enough to speak up or answer questions, even when I am sure I know the answers. Seeing a bright red "A" has always been enough motivation for me to want to see another. So, I am at first uncomfortable when this new kind of teacher--who is, but isn't, teaching--suggests that grades will not be given or will only be given based on standards he won't solely establish. Up until this moment, I have been taught (forced really, though I've never actually realized it) to find my own value in the marks another person (more like a long series of other persons) would give me. But as this man keeps talking and encouraging me through exercises and activities that are unorthodox and unexpected, I begin to realize that he is really showing me a world way beyond this classroom or any other cultural confinement. And suddenly, I can hear the only important questions, first spoken in ink within the pages, then repeated over and over in my mind like the sound of his voice, and then, finally, whispered from every face and force around me: who am I and, more importantly, what am I going to do about it? I no longer care to make the grade. Jensen is a master at destroying destructive mindsets while opening and enriching the mind that was so set. He removes layers of mystification, peeling each one away with awareness and care. He teaches by showing us that we can learn our own lessons. This book does so much more than expose modern education systems as the tools (training camps) of modern civilization they really are. This book awakens and inspires the creativity that is alive in each of us that has so long been silenced or sleeping or waiting to be born.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the caliber of Jensen's former books...
Review: I eagerly looked forward to buying and reading this book. Having read Jensen's other books, I have come to appreciate his willingness to address the ills of this society. However, I was deceived by the title, which I felt would discuss revolution or solutions to the ills of this society. Here is the final line to the book, "There is much work to be done. What are you waiting for? It's time to begin". To be honest, I expected more. I could not shake the feeling that Jensen's recollection of the class discussions were half made up. If you are seeking a book that looks at how a teacher can institute a no grading policy in class while seeking to institute a non-hierarchal classroom, then this book MAY be for you. I say MAY, because being a teacher myself I have already played with these ideas and more. I liked at times how Jensen addresses the free-loader problem within the system he uses, and although he fixes this problem within his classes, he never discusses the ramifications of his solutions or the ramifications of letting a free-loader turn in more than one or two recycled papers throughout the semester. Hence, the disappointment of the book. I honestly found myself saying three-quarters of the way through the book, "What a waste" and "This feels like filler". To sum up, Jensen's previous books are wonderful because I knew what I was getting, this book I felt did not address the issue of change (revolution) and thus I was not satisfied. Be free thinkers and then what? Bring back the Renaissance era? What happened to the Hippies in the 60's? They got jobs. How do we negotiate idealism and realism? The solution must address both.
Rating:
Summary: Leading us back to our hearts.
Review: I really think Derrick Jensen is one of the most important thinkers of our time. Walking On Water is another Jensen masterpiece that has reaffirmed this belief! Jensen asks his students and readers to think the unthinkable and do what we think could've never been done. After reading Walking On Water I can only imagine how different our lives would be if as children we weren't coerced into participating in the industrial school system. I ask myself how different things would be if students were loved and accepted by their teachers like Derrick shows love and acceptance for his students. I wonder: would most of us be going to jobs we hate everyday? Would we be captives of a civilizational system that compels us to destroy the very ecological system that we depend on to keep us alive? Would the U.S. taxpayers be spending 400 billion to make war? Would we EVEN put up with this corrupt economic and political system? "If one of the most unforgivable sins is to lead people away from themselves, we must not forgive the processes of the industrial education." Pg.216 D. Jensen. In this book Derrick has truthfully spoken to my experience in our industrial education system. I can remember sunny spring days, (I'm sure you can too) when all I wanted was to be playing outside with my friends, and having my mom and dad close by. But instead I was forced to sit in a hard seated desk in a block building with few windows. They call this a classroom. And this memory of my past experience is part of the unforgivable process of leading us away from ourselves. It's really sad to think that most of us have memories like this. Time is short! And if you've been forced to sit at a desk wishing away your time(the most precious thing we as human beings have)waiting for that bell to ring, you will love this book. Once again Derrick has showed me things really don't have to be this way.
Rating:
Summary: How Not to Teach--How to Be Human
Review: Jensen cuts to the heart of the matter: "As is true for most people I know, I've always loved learning. As is also true for most people I know, I always hated school. Why is that?" Although I cannot presume to speak for others, this was certainly true for me. School sucked. It was like torture, five days a week, eight hours a day, seemingly without beginning or end. And yet the end does eventually come, with much cap-throwing and fanfare, only to be crushed with the prospects of our work-a-day world and the ecological destruction it enacts on a daily basis. Along with Jensen, I would have to agree that one of the primary reasons we put up with this system is because we have been trained to do so, both bodily and mentally. "Throughout our adult lives, most of us are expected to get to work on time, to do our boss's bidding...and not to leave till the final bell has rung. It is expected that we will watch the clock, counting seconds till five o'clock, till Friday, till payday, till retirement, when at last our time will again be our own, as it was before we began kindergarten, or preschool, or daycare. Where do we learn to do all of this waiting?" The answer, of course, is school. School is the "day-prison" where we learn to be "a nation of slaves." To some, these might seem like rather bold statements. To be sure, many of us enjoyed moments of school here and there, experienced enthusiasm and genuine learning amid the 18-year prison sentence we call formal education. But that is not the point. The point is rather to ask what education could be. "What are the effects of schooling on creativity?," Jensen asks. "How well does schooling foster the uniqueness of each child who passes through? Does schooling make children happier? For that matter, does our culture as a whole engender happy children? What does each new child receive in exchange for the so many hours for years on end that she or he gives to the school system?" The answer is not much, unless you consider obedience to the clock a high and noble aim. In light of the looming problems our society now faces--drug addiction, teen suicide, domestic violence, rampant materialism, ecological crisis--this systemic acculturation of obedience has become pathological. Yet as Jensen shows, the aim of education from the very start has been economic growth, homogenization, social control, and industrialization--not personal enrichment, individuality, creativity or even the creation of healthy communities. Through a complex web of stories, anecdotes and personal experiences teaching both literal prisoners at California State Pen and figurative prisoners at Eastern Washington University, Jensen offers an alternative vision of education. This vision is reoriented to educe, draw out, and lead forth the native impulses and interests of students and teachers alike; and is predicated on our ability to listen to and follow our own hearts. As he says, "We need simply to be encouraged, to be given heart, to be allowed to grow our own large hearts. We do not need to be governed by external schedules--by the ticking of the ubiquitous classroom clock--nor told what and when we need to learn, nor what we need to express, but instead we need to be given time, not as a constraint, but as a gift in a supportive place where we can explore what we want and who we are, with the assistance of others who care about us also. This is true not only for me and for my students, but for all of us, including our nonhuman neighbors." As with most of Jensen's previous works (Listening to the Land, A Language Older Than Words, and The Culture of Make Believe) Walking On Water is difficult to categorize. Despite the subtitle--Reading, Writing and Revolution--Jensen does not address any of these subjects specifically. Rather, he moves in and out of them while addressing the larger issue--which is how to be fully human, and how to allow others to be fully human, in an extremely dehumanizing world. An important book, for teachers, students, dropouts, and successful members of our industrialized mass culture alike.
Rating:
Summary: How Not to Teach--How to Be Human
Review: Jensen cuts to the heart of the matter: "As is true for most people I know, I've always loved learning. As is also true for most people I know, I always hated school. Why is that?" Although I cannot presume to speak for others, this was certainly true for me. School sucked. It was like torture, five days a week, eight hours a day, seemingly without beginning or end. And yet the end does eventually come, with much cap-throwing and fanfare, only to be crushed with the prospects of our work-a-day world and the ecological destruction it enacts on a daily basis. Along with Jensen, I would have to agree that one of the primary reasons we put up with this system is because we have been trained to do so, both bodily and mentally. "Throughout our adult lives, most of us are expected to get to work on time, to do our boss's bidding...and not to leave till the final bell has rung. It is expected that we will watch the clock, counting seconds till five o'clock, till Friday, till payday, till retirement, when at last our time will again be our own, as it was before we began kindergarten, or preschool, or daycare. Where do we learn to do all of this waiting?" The answer, of course, is school. School is the "day-prison" where we learn to be "a nation of slaves." To some, these might seem like rather bold statements. To be sure, many of us enjoyed moments of school here and there, experienced enthusiasm and genuine learning amid the 18-year prison sentence we call formal education. But that is not the point. The point is rather to ask what education could be. "What are the effects of schooling on creativity?," Jensen asks. "How well does schooling foster the uniqueness of each child who passes through? Does schooling make children happier? For that matter, does our culture as a whole engender happy children? What does each new child receive in exchange for the so many hours for years on end that she or he gives to the school system?" The answer is not much, unless you consider obedience to the clock a high and noble aim. In light of the looming problems our society now faces--drug addiction, teen suicide, domestic violence, rampant materialism, ecological crisis--this systemic acculturation of obedience has become pathological. Yet as Jensen shows, the aim of education from the very start has been economic growth, homogenization, social control, and industrialization--not personal enrichment, individuality, creativity or even the creation of healthy communities. Through a complex web of stories, anecdotes and personal experiences teaching both literal prisoners at California State Pen and figurative prisoners at Eastern Washington University, Jensen offers an alternative vision of education. This vision is reoriented to educe, draw out, and lead forth the native impulses and interests of students and teachers alike; and is predicated on our ability to listen to and follow our own hearts. As he says, "We need simply to be encouraged, to be given heart, to be allowed to grow our own large hearts. We do not need to be governed by external schedules--by the ticking of the ubiquitous classroom clock--nor told what and when we need to learn, nor what we need to express, but instead we need to be given time, not as a constraint, but as a gift in a supportive place where we can explore what we want and who we are, with the assistance of others who care about us also. This is true not only for me and for my students, but for all of us, including our nonhuman neighbors." As with most of Jensen's previous works (Listening to the Land, A Language Older Than Words, and The Culture of Make Believe) Walking On Water is difficult to categorize. Despite the subtitle--Reading, Writing and Revolution--Jensen does not address any of these subjects specifically. Rather, he moves in and out of them while addressing the larger issue--which is how to be fully human, and how to allow others to be fully human, in an extremely dehumanizing world. An important book, for teachers, students, dropouts, and successful members of our industrialized mass culture alike.
Rating:
Summary: Revolution for learning and life!!!
Review: This is such an important book! Walking On Water explores the brainwashing and manipulation we call education that turns our children into a nation of passive workers and citizens. Jensen's insights on how this contributes to our culture of destruction and denial make this a wonderful companion piece to his longer books, "A Language Older Than Words," and, "The Culture of Make Believe," and a must read for anyone in the field of education. At the same time this book is an inspirational catalyst for self discovery and creativity as Jensen brings the reader into his creative writing classrooms in colleges and prisons. These passages made me angry that no writing instructor (or any other teacher, for that matter) I'd studied with ever had the guts to ask such vital questions or challenge their students to achieve so much. An enormous "Thank you" to Derrick Jensen for sharing his questions and lessons with us! I predict this will rapidly become the new text for creative writing classes across the country. "If you're willing to ride the wave, and let the wave ride you, if you want to write from the gut, from the soul, then reach deep into the tiger's fur and hold on tight, because we're all in for a wild ride." - Derrick Jensen, Walking on Water
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