Lani Guinier (1950–2022)

I was pleased to win a copy of " The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Demoralizing Higher Education in America" by Lori Guinier through the Library Thing Early Reviewers giveaway. I work in public education. I work in inner city schools where the issues of immigration, poor education levels, poverty and teen pregnancy are challenges to obtaining higher education. Graduation from high school is a challenge, as most parents have not. Rather than setting up education as a competition where the prize is getting into the best colleges, cooperative learning can help level the playing fields where all students learn together and achieve. I totally related to the part of the book where Biel talked about the Posse Foundation, i.e." I could do it if I had my posse with me". this is especially true when a parent may not view the merits of higher education for their children, or not understand the means of attaining higher education. My own three daughters attended and graduated from private colleges in the Midwest due to grants, scholarships and a posse of dedicated professors. Our country was founded on a democratic model, but this is hard to maintain sometimes.… (meer)

This book has changed my life. Guinier offers a brilliant, detailed criticism of our test-reliant education system. As she shows, the word "meritocracy" is a bit dishonest. Our system doesn't actually reward "merit"; it rewards test-taking success. None of our education "reforms" try to measure how students use and retain information, how they figure things out, how much they've actually learned. The result is short-term, rote memorization but very little actual education.

I'm a teacher and so these problems with testing are familiar to me. But after two chapters Guinier goes on to look at how some teachers have adapted their teaching in response to cognitive research. The result is a more student-centered classroom in which students are a vital part of the experience, rather than passive watchers/listeners. I've never been a lecturer and have always tried to make my classes as interactive as possible, but Guinier's book has inspired me to completely change how I teach. Next semester my students will be leading a lot more discussions, making more presentations, doing more group projects, getting their voices heard more frequently. As Guinier shows, this sort of activity and authority makes students remember concepts more clearly than if they were only reading/listening/test-taking.

I'm so grateful to Guinier for writing this, to Beacon Press for publishing it, and for LibraryThing for allowing me to read it through Early Reviewers. I'm excited for next semester!… (meer)