Overview

A best-selling expert on education shows how to make the school system work for your child. Our K–12 school system is an artificial product of market forces. It isn’t a good fit for all—or even most—students. It prioritizes a single way of understanding the world over all others, pushes children into a rigid set of grades with little regard for individual maturity, and slaps “disability” labels over differences in learning style. Caught in this system, far too many young learners end up discouraged, disconnected, and unhappy. And when they struggle, school pressures parents, with overwhelming force, into “fixing” their children rather than questioning the system. With boldness, experience, and humor, Susan Wise Bauer turns conventional wisdom on its head: When a serious problem arises at school, the fault is more likely to lie with the school, or the educational system itself, than with the child. In five illuminating sections, Bauer teaches parents how to flex the K–12 system, rather than the child. She closely analyzes the traditional school structure, gives trenchant criticisms of its weaknesses, and offers a wealth of advice for parents of children whose difficulties may stem from struggling with learning differences, maturity differences, toxic classroom environments, and even from giftedness (not as much of a “gift” as you might think!). As the author of the classic book on home-schooling, The Well-Trained Mind, Bauer knows how children learn and how schools work. Her advice here is comprehensive and anecdotal, including material drawn from experience with her own four children and more than twenty years of educational consulting and university teaching. Rethinking School is a guide to one aspect of sane, humane parenting: negotiating the twelve-grade school system in a way that nurtures and protects your child’s mind, emotions, and spirit.

Full Product Details

9780393356847

Table of Contents

Reviews

"A detailed look at how modern schooling can be a mismatch for students' needs.... Very straightforward and informative.-- ""Library Journal"" A welcome operator's manual for parents of school-age children, inside or outside the K-12 paradigm.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"" Bauer makes a passionate case for why the K-12 system desperately needs to be rethought.... Comforting and instructive.-- ""Publishers Weekly"" Should be on the nightstand of every parent, every teacher, and anyone invested in the education of our children.... Bauer's down-to-earth approach and talent for describing complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms makes for a comforting and accessible read.... This book offers hope to many who are desperately searching for it and empowers parents to finally take charge of their children's education.-- ""Epoch Times"""

A welcome operator's manual for parents of school-age children, inside or outside the K-12 paradigm. Should be on the nightstand of every parent, every teacher, and anyone invested in the education of our children.... Bauer's down-to-earth approach and talent for describing complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms makes for a comforting and accessible read.... This book offers hope to many who are desperately searching for it and empowers parents to finally take charge of their children's education. Bauer makes a passionate case for why the K-12 system desperately needs to be rethought.... Comforting and instructive. A detailed look at how modern schooling can be a mismatch for students' needs.... Very straightforward and informative.

A welcome operator's manual for parents of school-age children, inside or outside the K-12 paradigm. Should be on the nightstand of every parent, every teacher, and anyone invested in the education of our children.... Bauer's down-to-earth approach and talent for describing complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms makes for a comforting and accessible read.... This book offers hope to many who are desperately searching for it and empowers parents to finally take charge of their children's education. A detailed look at how modern schooling can be a mismatch for students' needs.... Very straightforward and informative. Bauer makes a passionate case for why the K-12 system desperately needs to be rethought.... Comforting and instructive.

Bauer makes a passionate case for why the K-12 system desperately needs to be rethought . . . comforting and instructive. -- Publisher's Weekly A welcome operator's manual for parents of school-age children, inside or outside the K-12 paradigm. -- Kirkus A detailed look at how modern schooling can be a mismatch for students' needs ... very straightforward and informative. -- Library Journal

A detailed look at how modern schooling can be a mismatch for students' needs.... Very straightforward and informative. -- Library Journal Bauer makes a passionate case for why the K-12 system desperately needs to be rethought.... Comforting and instructive. A welcome operator's manual for parents of school-age children, inside or outside the K-12 paradigm. -- Kirkus Reviews Should be on the nightstand of every parent, every teacher, and anyone invested in the education of our children.... Bauer's down-to-earth approach and talent for describing complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms makes for a comforting and accessible read.... This book offers hope to many who are desperately searching for it and empowers parents to finally take charge of their children's education. -- Epoch Times

A welcome operator's manual for parents of school-age children, inside or outside the K-12 paradigm. Bauer makes a passionate case for why the K-12 system desperately needs to be rethought.... Comforting and instructive. Should be on the nightstand of every parent, every teacher, and anyone invested in the education of our children.... Bauer's down-to-earth approach and talent for describing complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms makes for a comforting and accessible read.... This book offers hope to many who are desperately searching for it and empowers parents to finally take charge of their children's education. A detailed look at how modern schooling can be a mismatch for students' needs.... Very straightforward and informative.

A detailed look at how modern schooling can be a mismatch for students' needs.... Very straightforward and informative. Bauer makes a passionate case for why the K-12 system desperately needs to be rethought.... Comforting and instructive. Should be on the nightstand of every parent, every teacher, and anyone invested in the education of our children.... Bauer's down-to-earth approach and talent for describing complex ideas in simple, easy-to-understand terms makes for a comforting and accessible read.... This book offers hope to many who are desperately searching for it and empowers parents to finally take charge of their children's education. A welcome operator's manual for parents of school-age children, inside or outside the K-12 paradigm.

Author Information

Susan Wise Bauer is an educator and academic who has worked with parents and students for more than twenty years. She taught at the College of William and Mary in Virginia for fifteen years. Her previous best-selling titles for Norton include The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had, Rethinking School, The Story of Western Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory, and the History of the World series

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available