Lopsided Schools

Case Method Briefings

By (author) Gerard Giordano

Not available to order

Publication date:

16 January 2011

Length of book:

232 pages

Publisher

R&L Education

ISBN-13: 9781607097877

Lopsided Schools introduces readers to the case method and helps the reader to use the case method to examine the scholastic challenges that critics posed from World War I to the present. Some critics have stirred up educators with threats to reduce their budgets or fire them. Others upset them with disconcerting questions. Should parents demand that their children learn speed reading? Should teachers emphasize vocational activities? Should principals train their own successors? Should superintendents award bonuses to teachers? Should employers hire the graduates with the highest scores on standardized tests? Should politicians assume greater responsibility for schooling? Should journalists publicize information about lopsided schools? This book examines these and the numerous other questions that critics posed.

1 Preface: Are Schools Lopsided?
2 Introduction: Are Philosophy, Zen, Cycles, and the Case Method Related?
3 Chapter 1: Is the Case Method Unique?
4 Chapter 2: Do Teachers and Taxi Drivers Face Similar Problems?
5 Chapter 3: Do Educators Copy Food Photographers?
6 Chapter 4: Is Education Like Graffiti?
7 Chapter 5: Should Principals Be Trained Like Athletic Coaches?
8 Chapter 6: Should Educators Wrangle With Philosophers?
9 Chapter 7: What Motivates Scholars?
10 Chapter 8: Can Politicians Fix the Schools?
11 Chapter 9: Do Critics Offer Helping Hands?
12 Chapter 10: Is Education Like Dieting?

Critics have made suggestions about virtually every aspect of local, state, and federal education. Some of their suggestions, such as those embedded in No Child Left Behind, have been both praised and censured. While the proponents have detected the imprint of Mother Teresa, the opponents have detected that of Attila the Hun. Dr. Giordano's interesting and provocative analyses use the case method to answer a recurring and critically important question: how can educational policies and practices be improved?