Jefferson's Children

I have known that there are many problems in our high schools, but no one has ever talked about them till now. This book tells how high school is just wasting valuable time for kids and giving them innumerable worries and stresses by having to have to learn things that will never again be used in life. I think that high school should be geared toward an individual's plan for a future occupation. This book is a must read for anyone who has ever thought about this subject before!

Mr. Botstein's proposals for educational reform are as thought provoking and on-target as the reviews imply. Several of us, though, who are graduates of Simon's Rock College of Bard in western Massachusetts, wonder why he has omitted all mention of our school. He is ALSO the president of Simon's Rock, a college of the liberal arts and sciences that accepts younger students, generally after their tenth or eleventh-grade year of high school. In short, a college that has for nearly three decades exemplified the type of education he "proposes." And done it well, in our opinion. The omission is both perplexing and offensive.

I first heard Len Bostein give a talk on education and then bought his book. He offers a fresh way to look at our schools and offers some new ideas. It will have some difficulty gaining any kind of acceptance since it is a challenge the the current "educational structure." He like Jacques Barzun question the need for Education Departments ay universities and colleges. They both are quite articulate on this subject and point out that teachers teach and that teachers are not "educators" nor are "educators" teachers. Read Jacques Barzun's book entitled Teacher IN America. It was first published in 1941 and remains current today. Both these books offer sensible ideas which have great difficulty becoming accepted since they differ from thos ideas of the establised interests.

There is something freightening about Leon Botstein's astute critique about American culture in our time. He has an overreaching and encompasing view of American culture and the current state of education that is alarmingly accruate. His percetions of what is weak, and what is needed, should be heeded by every perosn interested in culture and cultural history. His theories tend to be paradoxically radical, liberal, and conservative at the same time, and are, in the end, in the very best interests, not only of individual students at large, but for the country in general. As I read, I kept thinking, if only this man were given free reign over educational reform at the highest governmental level, then we would really see revolutionary change. The most radical proposal is that high school as we know it, and have known it for the past century, be abolished. This comes from a study, not only of the weaknesses and failures of the kind of education our students now receive, but also from the biological and medical standpoint that students mature physically and sexually at much earlier ages now than in decades past, and that the educational system has not kept up. It is this linking between biology and education that is most strikingly innovative in his study. Instead of high school, a variety of options will become available to 15-16 year olds, including 2 year community college, 4 year college, vocational school, or work. Here, it is the 2 year college and vocational school that take on a much greater importance than they currently do. With more importance placed on better education at all levels, the current importance and snobism of "elite" education will be lessened. The educational model he espouses is similiar at times to the European model, where students are tracked at earlier ages, and instead of a liberal arts education, gives them technical training, as well as a well-roundedness, that makes them a learned, and technically trained, workforce. In America, he seems to argue, what is missing is both the well-roundedness, and the technical training. We get only a little of both, and not enough of either. With high school abolished, the kind of teaching that takes place at the lower level is strenghtened and intensified. Botstein's model, highly structured, favors both those gifted students who work well independently as well as those who need stronger supervision, and calls for new ways of parental involvement, and teacher training. If his reforms are even put into effect, they will not only change the kind of education our children receive, but American cutlure, for the better.

I got the feeling from this book that Leon Botstein is very very good at paying attention. His entire adult life has been devoted to education and several other passions (music and art) and he hasn't missed anything. This book combines fiery and opinionated scholarship, a humane and humanistic approach, and years of practical experience in education. Botstein: "Going to school should be like taking swimming and driving lessons: preparation for something adults continue to wish to do." It's so on-the-mark that as I said above, I believe it should be required reading for anyone interested in education and/or the future of American culture. Botstein is a 'visionary' and fortunately also President of Bard College, so one would hope that he gets to put some of his ideas into practice. One point he makes is that students would be well served if teachers expended the same amouht of energy and enthusiasm on each child that, for example, coaches do on their student athletes. He wants schools to change, but he's utterly down to earth at the same time. He recognizes that "school is not life, and life is not school." He has sensible and intelligent prescriptions for 'fixing' American education. He seems trustworthy and wise. Definitely worth reading and discussing.