Denying Disaffection: How Schools Are Winning the Hearts and Minds of Reluctant Students

by Klein, Reva

• ISBN13: 9781858561622
• ISBN10: 1858561620
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Stylus Pub Llc

Summary

This book examines a number of models being tried in the US to tackle disaffection. Many of public schools represent the nadir in education, where every year graduates leave high school unable to read or write - yet it is also where some of the most enlightened and radical approaches can be found on how to make schools relevant and dynamic for pupils. Reva Klein tells us: what it feels like to be turned off from school; why it happens to so many children; what schools are doing in the US and Britain to re-engage children in their education. She describes new curricula and methodologies which allow students to develop their potential through non-traditional routes; and combines sound research with sharp observation and lively engaging writing. Disaffection is endemic in education systems in the West. It affects middle class young people as it does the working class, and is not race specific. The wastage of real talent and the drift into crime that is virulent in most developed countries are a threat to our future but it can, as the case studies in Defying Disaffection demonstrate, be prevented. Because of the sheer degradation of parts of the U.S. public school system, certain educationalists have taken radical steps, successfully changing schools to meet the needs of their at-risk pupils. This book describes successful strategies based on: - the creation of small schools, - the construction of new curricula that reflect students' heritage, - and methodologies which allow students to develop their potential through non-traditional routes This award-winning journalist combines sound research with sharp observation of the real world and lively and engaging writing. Essential reading for everyone concerned with education -- teachers, principals, policy makers, social workers, and parents.

Author Biography

Reva Klein teaches at City University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Foreword	ix
Dr Jay Smink
Introduction There's Something Rotten in the State of Education	xi
Who Are These Kids?	1	(8)
Drop-Outs and Pushed-Outs	9	(14)
How Mainstream Works Against The Different Child	23	(14)
Race and Culture Clash	37	(10)
The Ugly American State of Education: Home of the Best and The Worst	47	(12)
The Alchemists: Schools Reclaiming The Alienated	59	(28)
Helping Schools Help Their Students: Two Programmes	87	(28)
The Search for Solutions	115	(22)
The Big Picture	137	(10)
Conclusion	147