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

While it has been a year or so since I've read this book, during this time I have recommended this book to several parents with high school aged children. As a student who attends a supposedly "elite" university, I often wondered where, or from whom, my classmates developed their misplaced sense of ethics when it comes to achieving academic success....and then I began tutoring students in the very competitive high schools that surround this university. I witnessed students who were more interested in getting A's in all of their classes - by whatever means necessary - than in actually understanding the material at hand. As a result much of their time was spent devising ways in which to "work the system", which, it seems, are good skills to acquire if one wishes to attend the top universities. God forbid that any of these students should attend a "second tier" university, for their parents would have to hide their faces in shame when among their peers. It no longer surprises me when the students around me resort to the methods outlined in Ms. Pope's book. True, not all of these methods are "technically" prohibited and (fortunately) not all students approach their studies in this way, but enough of them do that it is time to reevaluate just what is most important when approaching our children's education. Ms. Pope's book attempts to redirect this focus so that American students do not continue to fall further behind the rest of the world.

Denise Pope's engaging book is a wonderful vehicle to stimulate dialogue and discussion about the state of the high school experience. Unlike most books on education that are written by "academics", "Doing School" features the authentic voices of students and the stress they feel in a competitive academic setting. I highly recommend this book to teachers, parents, and students as a way to consider changes to practices at schools that create unnecessary stress. "Doing School" is also a cry to teachers to make classrooms engaging environments and to revise grading practices so as to encourage genuine work rather than "gotya" tests.

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.

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.

I just graduated from a high school very similar to Faircrest High. I must say that my own experiences from it compared to the students' in "Doing School" were nearly identical. I kept wondering throughout reading it if Pope had been secretly at my school instead of Faircrest. Truly a must-read for anyone involved in high school curriculum: teachers, administrators, board members, parents, etc.