ISBN-13: 9781481112529 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 270 str.
This provocative book offers an important challenge to American education today as the author looks at contemporary education via three generational narratives. Information is presented in a casual yet compelling way that causes the reader to really think about education in the current age. Willis's stories are understandable. She uses everyday situations and references old and new TV shows, movies, videos and music in an entertaining style to break through education babble speak so the reader can understand what is happening today in the the world of learning - and how that affects everything. The author's experience on the town side of government and at the school committee level for more than 30 years informs her debate in an enjoyable, readable manner. Using mostly non-educational language - and laying no claim to being an expert - the author offers practical, thoughtful and anecdotal stories to remind us that we have educational choices. Willis, a self-described lifelong learner with "a few miles on her odometer," believes that education does not exist in a vacuum, but rather as an integral part of our economy and politics. She does not shy away from delving more deeply into those interconnections and how they potentially affect our children in the educational world they now inhabit. Readers of fiction, non-fiction and contemporary issues will be drawn to this book's broad appeal across the generations as the author asks questions that include: What happens to a generation of students when experts make decisions on what is and is not important to learn? How and why are our children unfamiliar with the world? Why can't schools recognize various kinds of intelligence? How will our children get jobs? When should a student go to college? Why can't we recognize teachable moments? Who gets marginalized? Why do we continue to think the same way after all this time? WIll we need interpreters to speak among generations? Where are the adults? Why is Civics important? Why does a question asked in 1965 still matter? What have we lost? What have we gained? Willis, the oldest of ten children and a Baby Boomer grandmother, is practical and resourceful as she makes convincing points for choices and changes in education.