Description of the Book
Educational reform is a never-ending story-a recurring topic which people are deeply passionate about and about which much is written. Most everyone agrees that the current model is broken. There is little agreement, however, on what to do about it. Some books expound on the crisis. Others stress the need for inventing new paradigms, new psychological frames of reference-fresh ways of thinking. Some suggest altering the curriculum, emphasizing high-tech initiatives or modifying certain practices. Others put reform in the context of broader political and social upheaval. Some offer moving and inspiring stories of individual teachers, making a difference in the lives of their students, often against all odds.
Re-envisioning our schools has taken on special importance today. The charter school movement is burgeoning. Never before in the nation's history have so many people engaged in the process of school making.
Where are these founders to turn for the insights and skills needed to negotiate the terrain successfully and execute their dreams?
Enter "Learning Curves." This book is both a hybrid of previous efforts and a genre of its own-one that offers a fresh new perspective and a grand assist to prospective school builders. It details the unique odyssey of a single educator, Larry Paros and raises provocative questions on the education best suited for a democracy-questions with which we are still struggling today. It treats them not in the context of sterile theory-but that of real-life -snapshots of interactions with students and their stories, told in incisive and moving prose. It speaks to a partnership the author shared with his students-the obstacles, struggles, and frequent defeats they encountered on their road to autonomy, their extraordinary resilience, and their mutual transformation in ways unimagined.
The book follows Paros' pathway from a novice, reluctantly recruited to teach Algebra 1 to his leadership in creating cutting-edge programs in such varied settings as the campus of the Yale Divinity School, a yurt in Harvard Yard, and a deserted bowling alley in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.
Those contexts hosted a variety of students-both those alienated from traditional schooling and underachieving and others, successful but restless. The author's work with them focused not just on their intellectual intelligence, but their social and emotional intelligence as well - stressing the interplay of all three. Such verbiage is now part of the contemporary educational jargon to which all pledge fealty but most only pay lip service. What makes his efforts special and of special interest to current reformers is that he put these maxims into practice. He actually walked the talk.
Those who dream of making our schools more humane and responsive will be inspired, challenged, even chastened by these efforts-how one juggles the existential conflicts of freedom, self expression, and autonomy with order, obedience, and authority-across the divides of race, gender, and privilege. They will gain valuable insights of the ways of bureaucracy: ways of challenging an outdated education system and entrenched interests; mixing chutzpah and constraint, vision and improvisation; learning how to endure the ensuing conflict and controversy with dignity and grace; and muster the spirit to emerge from such struggles with one's soul intact.
The major events in the book occur during the turbulent 60's and 70's which makes it especially relevant today-a time when many have once more lost faith in our country's future and the transformative power of education. The book serves as a refreshing reminder of our country's core democratic values, the possibility for our coming together; and new liberating formats for learning. In lieu of despair, so commonplace today, it conveys hope and the possibility of real change.