The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School. - book reviews

I am a product of a public school education--Farmland Elementary, Tilden junior High, Charles W. Woodward High School, all in Montgomery County, Maryland. My one school-age child, John, now attends a public school, and will, I suspect, do so through high school. One hears a lot lately about the failures of public education in this country. And yet I believe that, so far at least, his education surpasses that which I received, both in quality and intensity.

It was from the standpoint of neither educator nor scholar, but of citizen and consumer, that I read these two recent offerings in the education debate. Both authors see the public schools as an essential component of our democracy. What, then, they ask, should be the goals of that education and, more important still, how are they best achieved? This is the "End' which Postman refers to in his ambiguous title. These books also serve as a much-needed reminder that both public education, and, indeed, democracy--the authors see an important, if often overlooked role of public education as fostering a sense of civic pride--are not fixed, but evolving. As Kohl writes in his conclusion, the public schools are at the "center of community conflict and the struggle to make democracy a lived reality in the United States." Change, debate, even upheaval, do not predict a downfall, but insure against stagnation.

Should We Burn Babar? is by far the more compelling and, ultimately, useful, of the books. Kohl's carefully constructed essays and narratives left me convinced that he is a gifted educator as well as scholar. Postman, on the other hand, adopts the tone of the informed, but rambling (and at times tiresome) preacher/conversationalist, citing everyone from Robert Fulham to Bertrand Russell (affording them roughly equal weight). The first half of The End of Education discusses the metaphysical question of what "god" (read: purpose) education should serve. And here, Postman does well in describing the pitfalls of education's current overdependence on, as he labels them, the gods of technology and economic utility. (Postman is the author of Technopoly, among many other books.) I think it is rather brave, these days, to suggest that schools should not be in the business of teaching computer skills, and that their focus should not be on making sure children graduate ready to enter the workforce, but that they should teach children how to think.

Critiquing the numerous false gods modern-day education falls prey to, Postman goes on to propose some alternatives that might help schools achieve a sense of unified purpose. Here, I could have used something more specific. Postman is full of great ideas (among my favorites was suggesting that "museums" be a. subject taught in high school or college), but often fails to give practical suggestions for implementing his grand ideas.

After reading these two books, I was embarrassed to realize that, when considering my own child's education, I, too, had lapsed into generalities. I had asked (or, rather, expected) that his education be good,.thorough, rigorous--without giving much thought to what that meant in practical terms. What both Postman and Kohl provide, in this sense, is a sort of user's guide: A framework for how parents and educators might begin to view the purpose of education, both as a tool for educating our children and for strengthening our democracy.

Not that any parents seeking the definitive text on what their child should have learned by a certain grade will find the answers in either of these books. Unlike E.D. Hirsch, Jr., whose core curriculum series offers up a long (if somewhat arbitrary) list of exactly what a child should learn in a given grade, Kohl and Postman offer something less tangible, but, ultimately, more valuable. They ask the reader to consider not what kind of thoughts our children should be thinking in school, but what kind of thinker schools ought to be producing.

Anyone seeking a model of clear and rational thinking has only to read the Kohl essays. While certainly of interest, I found the title piece, "Should We Burn Babar?", which addresses the issue of censorship, to be the least compelling. Kohl's conclusion that Babar, with its themes of colonialism, sexism, racism, and capitalism (not to mention murder) "would best be relegated to the role of collector's item" seemed, to my mind, a tacit endorsement of the very censorship he elsewhere argues against. Far more instructive were the essays "The Story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott Revisited" and "The Good Old Days. I was There. Where Was They?" which trace the history of public education in this country through the fictional experiences of several generations of one family.

In his Rosa Parks essay, Kohl argues that subtle racism has contributed to the mistelling of the story of the bus boycott and Mrs. Parks's role in it. It turns out that not only was the bus boycott a carefully planned action, but also that Mrs. Parks (Kohl objects to the tendency to address her as Rosa, as belittling) was not, as I myself had been taught in school, merely a tired seamstress who just happened to decide not to move to the back of the bus one day. Instead, she was an active member of the NAACP who was already deeply involved in the struggle for desegregation. Here, Kohl manages to instruct without preaching and to offer an alternative, in the form of a more correct (not to be confused with politically correct) telling of the story. How difficult that can be is aptly demonstrated here, as Kohl works and reworks his version, seeking the best possible narrative. The final product, in its balance and accuracy, drives home the point that education is, finally, about telling the truest story possible.

Kohl's essay tracing the history of public education is not only a pleasure, but manages to condense a large, potentially unwieldy topic into a clear, concise, and informative text. "People in our society have never agreed upon what is basic for education in a democracy." Kohl notes. Educational trends come and go with almost amusing regularity. Indeed, he argues that the constant search for new and better ways to teach is part of the American educational tradition--and it's bound to continue. As Kohl writes, "It is definitely worth taking a look at where we have been in order to illuminate where we are and what we need to do . . . to revitalize public education and reaffirm our faith in democracy."

Both of these books served to buoy the spirits of this citizen, making me feel part of a noble struggle--to preserve and support public education as an evolving and vital institution. As Kohl concludes, . . .no matter what current conditions seem to indicate, there is no child, no person, who cannot learn and grow through the generous efforts of others."

Clare Collins is afree-lance writer. She lives in Pawcatuck, Connecticut.

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