Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do
by Laurence Steinberg
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Book Summary Information
Author: Laurence SteinbergEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1997-10-17
ISBN: 0684835754
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
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Book Reviews of Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do
Book Review: Comprehensive look at fixing education in America
Summary: 4 Stars
Focusing on the theme of extramural forces that contribute to the failure of school reform, psychologist Laurence Steinberg uses his expertise on adolescence and school engagement to posit that the achievement problem we face in the U.S. is unequivocally "a problem of attitude and effort, not ability" (p. 184), and nested outside the school's walls--primarily, in polarized parenting practices and a youth culture that demeans academic achievement, hard (academic) work, and internal attribution in favor of socializing with peers, leisure activities, part-time jobs, and blind faith in "native ability."
Although Steinberg investigates ethnic differences in student achievement, parenting practices, and peer culture, he walks a tightrope to avoid cultural insensitivity while making gross generalizations; notwithstanding, his findings and suggestions ultimately smack of intrigue and contention. Steinberg claims that authoritative parenting--as opposed to authoritarian, permissive, or disengaged--is most conducive to promoting engagement in school and learning. He then finds minimal between-group differences in parenting styles for White, Asian, Latino and Black families, which leads him to the inference that something is mitigating the parenting effect on Hispanic and Black students: that "something" is the peer group. Anti-intellectualism amongst peers, says Steinberg, is the single greatest threat to an individual student's achievement: "Much of the good work that Black and Latino parents are doing at home is being undone by countervailing pressures in their youngsters' peer groups" (p. 159). This, of course, begs the question, Are achievement patterns more dependent on the choice of the peer group--or is it the other way around--in other words, do peers place themselves into groups based on achievement patterns? I am inclined to believe that the issue is far more complicated than just this.
Particularly good to know is that Steinberg quells any theories about genetic inferiority between ethnic groups; particularly annoying, however, is Steinberg's use of Asian students as the benchmark from which he draws many inferences. For instance, why have Asian students generally outperformed their White, Latino, and Black counterparts? According to Steinberg's sources, Asian students are more sensitive to the perceived peril of not getting a quality education because the paucity of visible Asian role models (e.g., entertainers, athletes, and politicians). So is he suggesting that Black and Latino students don't see the danger of dropping out of high school because uneducated Black and Latino entertainers, athletes, and politicians just happen to be out there in abundance? That achievement is only normative within White and Asian peer groups? This argument is preposterous at best; specious at worst. I am not discrediting Steinberg's claim that peer culture is a salient factor in adolescent socialization and academic achievement; I'm just more interested in how and why certain peer groups form, why they are homogenous and exclusive, and how educators can make a difference if parents have apparently dropped the ball on their children (which apparently is outside the purview of this work, which is ostensibly aimed at parents). This is not to say that ethnic group differences are irrelevant--they clearly are not--I'm just not satisfied by reductionistic arguments like the one that puports that some ethnic groups equate intellectual achievement with "selling out" or "acting white." Clearly, there are a host of complex intervening factors that contribute to the achievement gap.
In a chapter cleverly entitled "All Work and All Play Makes Jack a Dumb Boy," Steinberg says that part-time employment and socializing are two major factors that undermine school engagement, and that teens are working and socializing more now than in the past. For the most part, he is right (although his empirical claim of 35 to 45 hours per week seems a bit sensational). However, he fails to situate his argument within the hegemony of consumerism and the economic reality of capitalist America (the land where "who you are" is determined by what you own--by the way, I have just added Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism to my must-read list). Nevertheless, Steinberg notes that particularly vulnerable to the insidiousness of consumerism are teenagers, who by and large are working menial part-time jobs that take away time from the potential of intellectual pursuit. This may be great for restaurants and retail stores, who often lobby to keep adolescent employment policies lenient, but I wonder what it really does to our students who detach themselves from school. Moreover, is it even realistic to think that we can save the detached student who is 16 years old and eager to enter part-time, unskilled work? By that age, teens may have already made up their minds that the academy is just not for them. Clearly, determining who schools are appealing to may be more important than blaming the students themselves.
Although Steinberg further annoys me by extending a clarion call for national standards and by plugging the work of Diane Ravitch, he has written an important piece that, if nothing else, reiterates the importance of looking beyond the school's walls for a better educational future.
Summary of Beyond the Classroom: Why School Reform Has Failed and What Parents Need to Do
Drawing on a nationwide survey encompassing all ethnic and socioeconomic groups, Beyond the Classroom identifies the real nature of the education crisis in America. "No one answer is going to reverse the dumbing down of American schools and American kids. But here, at last, is a fresh perspective."--Chicago Tribune.School Management Books
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