A flawed but thought-provoking discussion about the moral education—or lack of it—of American children. Among the many chores that schools have taken on in recent years is the teaching of morality. Teachers sometimes do this in free-wheeling discussions that permit students to form their own opinions about classic moral dilemmas—sex and its consequences being a ubiquitous topic; this method is sometimes called ``values clarification.'' Here, Kilpatrick (Education/Boston College; Identity and Intimacy, 1975) pounces on the idea of values clarification and shakes it like a dog savaging a rabbit. Children are not born with virtue (i.e., knowing good from evil), he says, and a classroom dilemma about whether or not to steal is no dilemma if a child doesn't already think stealing is wrong. Children, he contends, need ``training in goodness.'' To accomplish that, teachers and parents should not only reiterate moral strictures- -that lying, stealing, harming another person are wrong—but provide examples both in their own behavior and in stories. Kilpatrick nails, not always convincingly, a host of villains for the new moral ambiguity. Among them are Rousseau, Nietzsche, feminist theorists, and, above all, the fathers of the human- potential movement, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. What Kilpatrick does not discuss—and the omission is major—are the institutions and individuals who preach morality and behave immorally, from governments that sidestep the law to evangelists who frequent prostitutes. A generation has grown up with would-be heros—from Presidents to preachers—who are hypocrites, and the institutions that Kilpatrick praises for instilling ``character'' in their charges—Roman Catholic schools, military schools, an orthodox Jewish sect—are not necessarily paragons of morality. Providing children with stories of right overcoming wrong—a list of recommended classics is included—is commendable, but the stirring tales may only highlight the morality gap, generating yet more classroom discussion of values.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-75801-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992
A faulty diagnosis of what ails our schools, and an account of one woman's inconclusive attempt to cure them. Unlike many other proponents of educational reform, Wallace, former superintendent of the Vance County school district in North Carolina, and Graves, a reporter for the Oregonian, identify the bell curve as the major culprit in our educational woes. This statistical tool, they say, fails to accurately describe phenomena controlled by human will, such as achievement in school. The authors feel that schools' reliance on on this faulty measure results in lower standards, since we strive towards the middle, rather than the top, of the curve: textbooks are homogenized and lifeless because they are geared to the average reading ability of each grade; and since the curve presupposes the inability of certain students to achieve the average, these children are tracked early on into basic-level courses. But Wallace and Graves have merely set up a straw man. Standards are low, but the bell curve only describes that, it doesn't cause it. Textbooks are dull, but unnecessasrily so—even writing geared to the curve's center can be lively. And students who are tracked into basic classes are generally not challenged because teachers' reduced expectations cause them to give up on these kids altogether. Most of the book is devoted to Wallace's experience in Vance County, a poor and underachieving school district where Wallace was allowed to try her reforms. She disposed of grade levels and grading and allowed students to progress at their own pace. (Innovative schools such as the Paint Branch Elementary School in Maryland have had success with this more fluid system.) Unfortunately, Wallace only stayed a couple of years because of political infighting (described at length). She claims small successes—measured, ironically, against the reviled curve—but it is impossible to determine success or failure of an educational reform program in such a short time. Simplistic and self-congratulatory.
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-11876-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
A curious hybrid: part history of the American university during the Cold War years, part memoir of the elder (Jacob) Neusner's five decades as perhaps America's leading Judaica scholar. Neither part works. Neusner Sr. is the hyperprolific author of hundreds of works on the nature and evolution of talmudic Judaism; son Noam is a reporter for the Tampa Tribune; together, they provide a brief and rather superficial history of the postWW II American university that is informed by a distinctly neoconservative bias: Recently, faculties supposedly have become radicalized; teachers pander to student wishes, curricula are standardless and rigidly politically correct; students are pampered and left intellectually unchallenged. At times, their tone deteriorates into Rush Limbaughlike rhetoric, such as a reference to academic ``fascist feminism.'' Meanwhile, in describing a supposedly pre-'60s ``golden age'' of academia, the Neusners somehow forget to mention the influence of McCarthyism or the CIA's efforts to infiltrate campus faculty. The memoir sections are no better. While Jacob Neusner has some interesting things to say about his own pedagogic ideals, particularly the desirability and necessity of balancing good teaching with good scholarship, his tone often is grandiose, as if he were the only one doing important work in Jewish studies. He writes about numerous colleagues with transparent contempt (about named and unnamed ``scholars of Judaism'' at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he claims, ``They confused their opinions with facts, cultivated obscurity, and practiced obfuscation''). At the end of his career, isolated after almost three decades at Brown University (he is now at the Univ. of South Florida) in part because of his abrasive personal and rhetorical style, Neusner sounds kvetchy, self-pitying, and bitter; one of his chapter subheadings reads ``A Career Concludes, The Ostracism Continues.'' Poor Jacob Neusner, poor readerthis is dreary stuff from an admirably productive, often insightful scholar.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8264-0853-2
Page Count: 252
Publisher: Continuum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
