Life in Classrooms

Jackson's "Life In Classrooms" seems to key off the acknowledgement of a teacher, or someone who is fairly familiar with the happenings of an educator's classroom. Interestingly, the new "reissued" version of the text presents the worthwhile introduction of an ethnographer who discloses how he found himself threaded into the environments of a classroom. Ironically, the introduction is also amongst one my favorite parts of the book. It was here where I discovered that Jackson wasn't simply aiming his scientific rhetoric at the vulnerable target of education. In fact, with regards to his previous ethnographic duties, he implies slight humor when describing them as "boring." In essence, that initial slanted unintended deception between the teacher and the ethnographer is disregarded due to his honest, raw like narration. In his initial chapter as an outsider looking in, Jackson's semi-scientific observations of teachers, students, and schools were defined via comparisons with societal or indirect, non-academic institutions. Such comparisons portray a gloomy, philosophical parallelism of schooling where individual desires are restrained and teachers play prison guards in jail-like buildings. Yet, whereas the initial chapter stimulates heartfelt recognitions of public schooling, the following two chapters were fairly repetitive or scaffolding-ly "common" to maintain the same interest. Here, Jackson presents the numerical results of student surveys showing how they felt about school and their teachers. Regardless, initial descriptions and results of children's interest in schools did garner my curiosity where despite the text's context of the late 1960's, I found some similarities in modern schooling. Also, the next chapter portrays a specified glimpse into the minds of recognized teachers and their perspectives about teaching. Without disclosing any previews about the text, I will simply acknowledge how observing other teachers views of curriculum and instruction is encouragingly motivating. Through their interviews, readers, particularly educators, may identify and make connections amidst similar philosophies, including the school culture, environment, testing, and assessment. Of course, the book is a classic, and perhaps specific sections seem outdated, as noted in the last chapter. This section delineates the connection between learning theory and educational practice as well as areas that position teachers as being possibly ignorant and detached from scholarly educational theory. Consequently, many of the perspectives in this chapter have at present been considered, researched and presented. Regardless, like previous chapter, it helps keep the mind fresh as to the theories and considerations that help drive pedagogical practice. Whereas the book observes "Life in the Classrooms" from an ethnographic point of view, Jackson's studies imply essences of action and reform that would engage the scholarly researcher, teachers, students and anyon

Jackson's Life in Classrooms (1990) is a reprint of a 1968 version with the addition of a new introduction. The introduction is basically a reflection of how the author, who had previously been a quantitative scientist, felt that there was something missing in the information provided by this research and turned to ethnography and more qualitative research. I believe that this book is proof positive of the limitations of a purely quantitative approach and the valuable information that qualitative research can provide. Chapter one is a fascinating description of what Jackson encounters when he becomes imbedded in schools to really understand one of the major forces that shapes a culture's habitus (its beliefs, attitudes and dispositions). Jackson doesn't explicitly state this but he strongly suggests it. Essentially, what he finds is what he calls the "Daily Grind" or a tedious system of rules and regulations that are designed to promote passive consumption, obedience and acquiescence to" delayed gratification", or simply no gratification at all. Jackson compares schools to prisons, mental institutions and factories. I take his analysis a little further and find his very close to Foucault's interpretation of Bentham's Panopticon. The Panopticon for Bentham was a prison building where all behaviors could be observed. Foucault argued that once a system of rules and laws became part of people's habitus, the system would become its own Panopticon where self monitoring would occur to preserve the system's equilibrium. Of course my interpretation is tainted both by my own dislike for schools and by my personal ideology. Jackson argues that the daily grind is essentially the hidden curriculum of schools that could be preparing students for the tedious life in industrialized society. A disconcerting statement by Jackson is that adults would not tolerate what children are made to tolerate in schools. I found this strange since he argues that the school is preparation for adults to tolerate just this, and in fact, millions of children and adults all over the world tolerate these circumstances in factories and industrialized agricultural settings. I found chapters 2 and 3 of this book to be informative but the least interesting. These chapters offer a summary of results from previous research regarding how children felt about schools, how attitudes related to school performance, how the teachers perceived their attitudes, how attentive/inattentive students behaved and how their teachers felt about attention/inattention. Findings showed that the majority of children fell into two categories of children who either liked or disliked school, but neither group had overwhelming emotions. Rather, they seemed to find schools either acceptable or rather tedious. Surprisingly, the vast majority were content with schools despite of what Jackson describes in chapter one. Yet, half of students found several things that bothered them. However, very few

From back cover: "In the years since its first appearance, 'Life in Classrooms' has attained the status of a classic, a milestone in the close study of the educational process at its most fundamental level. Widely read and much discussed, the book has spurred researchers to examine ever more deeply the dynamics of classroom learning - a process that must remain the cornerstone of educational change. Philip Jackson's observations and insights remain as pertinent and as central to educational research as ever; this book invites, even demands, rereading. For the reissue, the author has supplied a new introduction with his reflections on the writing of the book and on the role of the educational researcher. 'Life in Classrooms' continues to challenge its readers. Faculty and students in graduate education programs, educational researchers and practitioners, and those with an interest in the dynamics of the classroom will all find much of value in this book." Chapter contents: * The Daily Grind * Students' Feelings about School * Involvement and Withdrawl in the Classroom * Teachers' Views * The Need for New Perspectives

I was first introduced to Jackson's work while getting my M.A. in Elementary Education at New York Univeristy. After my first exposure to sections of this book, I went out and bought it. Life In Classrooms focuses on the aspects of school that are not given enough attention in education theory and debates. This book provides anaylsis of the 'everyday' curriculum. The most important concepts expounded upon are the fuctions and repercussions of crowds, praise and power that seem inherent in every school system in America. This is a brilliant book!