OK. First of all, I found the style a bit dry, which is a shame, because what he had to say was interesting, it just took a little work to get through the language choice… I suspect Strunk & Wagnell has conditioned me to expect a more direct treatment.

Other than that, the book, written in the 1980’s, gives a strong case for a complete overhaul of the educational system – one which is 100% counter to ‘No Child Left Behind’.

It also gives insight into organizational structure in general, and how to change it, and how not to change it, and why. There are passages I gave to my husband to read (as he is in the process of starting his own business) about what kinds of organizations are the most efficient and productive.

There is commentary on why the more effective structures are not more common (a combination of lack of public knowledge of the specific research, and how change to better structure can come about, and what is required to effect that change.)

So far, so good.

Initially it looked like a ‘miracle solution’ book. It cited a few studies which seemed to show that an educational system arranged democratically rather than autocratically would lessen the hostility in the educational system. I thought he was heading towards espousing wholesale change without taking into account all the ‘little’ problems in this massive restructuring. (Despite the fact that he’s been in the New York educational bureaucracy for years.)

However, after the first few chapters he describes some programs which have actually been tried along these lines. His complaint about them is not that the school system didn’t jump up and change everything. It’s the much more reasonable one that, although some positive results have been reported, there has been no systematic study about why they work and how much benefit they actually give. A much more logical approach.

About halfway through it. Looking forward to the rest.

I found this book while looking for a reference for my daughter to use in a research paper. I’ve been going on a ‘hard science’ binge for non-fiction reading, and thought I’d try something different.