From Publishers Weekly
Because American society operates on the unspoken assumption that schooling is for preparing students for well-paying jobs, our educational system is falling apart, declares Postman (Technopoly), a New York University communications professor. In a wise and provocative essay, he argues that public schools subtly reinforce worship of technology, economic utility and consumerism. He outlines several alternative "narratives" that would give public schools a compelling reason to exist and that would motivate students to learn. These include "Spaceship Earth," which casts humans as caretakers of a vulnerable, interdependent planet; the "Law of Diversity," teaching how art, science, politics and customs have been vitalized through the intermingling of cultures; the "American Experiment," portraying U.S. history as an imperfect crucible of democracy; and "Word Weavers," the social and moral dimensions of language and its central role in transforming the world. Postman's visionary, perhaps somewhat utopian blueprint for transforming our schools sets a new standard for debate.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
One of the best writers among contemporary cultural critics, Postman is never better than when writing about education. His Janus-faced title refers both to the idea that schools as we know them are on the way out and to his own perception that American schools need new reasons--ends for learning. He calls such reasons "gods" --cultural conceits intended to inspire students to learn. He critiques gods that are failing in today's schools, such as the god of economic utility, in whose name students are supposed to believe that if they get through school halfway well, they will then get a well-paying job, and the god of consumership, whose golden rule is: The one who dies owning the most toys wins. He then proposes five new gods to make schooling vital again. He calls the five "The Spaceship Earth," "The Fallen Angel," "The American Experiment," "The Law of Diversity," and "The Word Weavers/The World Makers." If each of these rubrics has the ring of a familiar belief system, well, each is meant to. As Postman defines the five, they are myths, in the most complimentary sense of the word, for realizing ourselves as responsible individuals in our communities, from smallest to largest. Beautifully written, breathtakingly high-minded, this is Postman's best book on American education. Ray Olson
