Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 373.73 EAN: 9780618516063 ISBN: 0618516069 Label: Mariner Books Manufacturer: Mariner Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 272 Publication Date: 2004-09-23 Publisher: Mariner Books Studio: Mariner Books
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Editorial Reviews: First published in 1984, this best-selling classic is Theodore Sizer's eloquent call to arms for school reform. In a new preface, Sizer addresses the encouraging movements afoot today for better schools, smaller classes, and fully educated students. Yet, while much has changed for the better in the classroom, much remains the same: rushed classes, mindless tests, overworked teachers. Sizer's insistence that we do more than just compromise for our children's educational futures resonates just as strongly today as it did two decades ago.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: A good read for secondary school personnel Comment: Even though the book was written in 1984, many of the dilemmas faced in the American high school haven't changed. Students still need more stimulation from teachers and curriculum. This book highlights some of the main themes that can be seen in most high schools even today. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to get into the teaching profession. A student in an introductory education class would be a good audience. This would give them a picture of high school from a non-student glance, which they often won't encounter until several semesters into their undergraduate career. This way they have a better idea of what to expect when they complete a practicum or student teaching experience. Veteran teachers would also benefit from reading this book. It is easy to get caught up in curriculum and forget that there are teenagers in the room. Their needs are often forgotten. This book is a good reminder of "the other side of the story". This book was a good reminder of what is really going on in high school classrooms. Anyone who works in a school, but may not have been in a classroom for a while should also read this book. Again, it is a good reminder of what teachers and students are experiencing on a daily basis. This is a book that I will keep and p Customer Rating: Summary: How Far Can You Up The Ante? Comment: Since the other reviewers won't tell you what Horace's compromise is, I will. Every high school teacher sooner or later comes to the place where the most important career decision has to be made. Put in the positive sense, the question is: how far are you willing to live for your ideals, i.e., truly educate your students, and keep your standards at the highest levels, in other words, standards you are comfortable with? Put in the negative: how far can you continue to hold respectable standards for student achievement and still survive on the job? Today's high school presents an enormously challenging environment. Very simply, adminstrators and students wield entirely too much power in the classroom, power which has been taken from the teacher. It's not for no reason at all that every pedagogic training institution shows its prospective teachers "The Crucible" (By the way, the term is "classroom hell" - and regardless of what they say, teaching pundit advice aside, it comes to most every teacher - the only difference being in degree). Walter Annenberg, a media mogul whose controversial dealings made him one of the richest men in the world (he purchased the last Van Gogh ever auctioned), in the late 1980's, funded the education department at Brown University with the largest grant ever awarded to an academic institution in America. Say what you will about Ted Sizer. He succeeded where most academics fail miserably. He procured enough money to research education for many, many lifetimes. The first fruits of this research are embodied in the trilogy which begins with Horace's Compromise. I think Annenberg was probably somewhat disappointed. Like many aged, reactionary richies, he attributed most of our nation's woes to our troubled educational system - and this putative disaster - the source of all evil - on bad, incompetent teaching, particularly in our public high schools. In fact, this very sentiment was echoed by controversial retired fed chief, Alan Greenspan, in his recent memoir, THE AGE OF TURBULANCE. I do not agree with these assessments. In some instances, the teacher may be at fault - and certainly the ills of the schools of Victorian England as graphically depicted in the tormented pages of the most influential educational reformer in history - Charles Dickens - may be laid at the feet of bad teachers. And they were. But the day when the teacher had the last word in either discipline or curriculum, or almost anything else, are long gone - as far gone, in fact, as the brutal alma maters of David Copperfield and Oliver Twist. The bulk of the onus for the solution to today's problems resides with administrators and, frankly, overworked and underpaid parents, who are often treated with a measure of the disrespect experienced by many teachers in the classroom. But, as a explanation of the dilemmas of teaching, I believe Horace's Compromise does better than it's critics claim. As to the solutions, how much better is the standard of success is a bit fuzzier. Sizer is a synthetic thinker - and his solutions come from many sources. Most importantly, he harks back to Rousseau's idea, as expressed in Emile, that student buy-in should be the central dynamic in teaching - and every teacher should advantage it. Well . . . unfortunately the diversity of classroom participation is much like Forrest Gump's mother's proverbial box of chocolates - especially in lower income communities. Catering to diversity, as has been the battle cry of virtually every attempt at educational reform over the past three decades, may not provide the classroom solution. Should we cast the Classical Canon and The Art of Memory to the winds in favor of student designed curricula? I think not. For better or worse, we learn in school the value of the cultural inheritance, what value there is in it. I guess that's why they call me Old School. But then, I'm only one reader. The fact is that we never can and never will be able get around the fact that learning entails pain. I don't feel that Sizer ever adequately comes to terms with this reality. But what does emerge, perhaps unwittingly, from his work, is the understanding that the burden of proof for the success or failure of the learning process, resides not with the teacher, but with the student. For that truth, we ought to recognize that Sizer has more than earned his money. See also: Edward B. Fiske, SMART KIDS, SMART SCHOOLS. Customer Rating: Summary: The classic on High School reform Comment: This first of Sizer's Horace trilogy is a must read for those interented in high school reform. Based on years fo field research Sizer, through his composite teacher, describes how even the best intentiioned teachers are handcuffed in trying to meet all their studetns needs in our current educatinal system, even in the best of our comprehensive high schools. He analyzes the shortcomings and closes with a blueprint for restructuring. His later books take that blueprint into more detail. The writing is engaging and persuasive. Customer Rating: Summary: horace's compromise Comment: I thought this book was very intresting. I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking about teaching high school. I did not get a lot out of the book as a whole, but there were many independent points that stuck out. I liked the way the book challenged the system. Customer Rating: Summary: horaces compromise Comment: I am a college student majoring in education. I chose to read the book Horace's Compromise for my education class. I thought the book was very knowledgeable, but it was hard to read. Sometimes the sentences went on forever, and I had to read them more than once. I didn't get much out of the book as a whole, but I found certian parts to be intresting. Overall it was a good book, and i would recommend it to anyone who is planning to teach high school. More Reviews