The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform: Can We Change Course Before It's Too Late (Jossey Bass Education Series)

Sarason challenges educators to understand that to continue to struggle for 'power over' rather than 'power with' overlooks the mutual interest of all parties that will stifle any real progress in education reform. In a classroom utilizing effective teaching practices students would respond to the question, 'How do you rate this book?' with all thumbs up.


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Seymour B. Sarason examines why past attempts at reforming the nation's educational system have failed, and offers new perspectives on how reform must be approached for any chance of success in the future. He reveals the faulty assumptions on which past reforms have been based. For example, Sarason disputes the traditional belief that schools exist only or primarily for students--and contends that unless schools become places where educational personnel themselves can learn, change, and grow, those personnel cannot create and sustain favorable learning conditions for students.

The book offers innovative answers to fundamental questions surrounding the reform of our education systems: What should be our goals for students? Why are schools often uninteresting places for students? Why is there such discrepancy between how students perceive the world of school and how they perceive the world outside it?