Craig B. Howley

This was a frustrating read for me. I read it because I, as a teacher, want to know how to reach more of my students. I didn't get that from this book. Instead, I got a lot that I agreed with in the first part of this books. For example, we are too focussed on credentialism in the USA rather than focussing on real learning. Unfortunately, then the book became overly didactic as the writers tried to force their perception of what schooling should be, and then it took a turn towards the crazy as they proposed a completely different framework of our educational system without any explanation of how this would be palatable nor much of any discussion of the tradeoffs that would be inherent in their system. There is potential here for somebody else to take the ideas and research posed in this book and to do something great with it, but these authors haven't done it.… (meer)

I loved the content and spirit of the book, but struggled a bit with the overly academic style of the writing (the way citations were added, not the academic vocabulary). But if you can get past the formalities, the message of the book is clear: We have a long way to go as an educational system to train students to be critical thinkers, and not just people who can regurgitate information. We should be building a future workforce of innovators and thinkers, not bound by our narrow standards of success. I love to envision the possibilities our true learning in American public schools!… (meer)