Reviews for The importance of becoming a something-ist

The average rating for The importance of becoming a something-ist based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-03-08 00:00:00 Michel Veillette when people say, 'it takes a village,' they don't really believe it. 'the sins of one generation' is the more appropriate cliche, and the sad reality is that while the sins of one entire village falls on its children, the accountability for those kids is placed soley on the one village institution that can be measured and berated: the school. there exists this myth that schools can -- and should -- be a sort of panacea, a place where all problems can be resolved. violence? adhd? crime? social inequality? the schools can fix it all. we see this myth, in part, in the formulaic feel-good teacher movie: a unlikely, unorthodox teacher comes into a failing school with apathetic teachers and turns unruly, undisciplined kids into stars by discovering that the only problem was that the kids were just given up on. the more sophisticated, 2007 version (freedom something) features the added twist of a teacher who gives up everything -- and must -- in order to make that difference. the message seems to be that the blame for poorly performing schools lie squarely on indifferent teachers and administration, and if they only could muster the passion and care of a common citizen, they would change the world. this book gives us the sad history of this kind of thinking, but at the institutional level.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-09-14 00:00:00 Camron Whiley This book was mostly boring, but it had several interesting nuggets and I feel a lot more informed about the history of public school in America. It should have been an article, but it was 200 pages. Oh well.