Publication date:
08 October 2015Length of book:
230 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781475815757
Why are our educational institutions and practices such a poor fit for so many students? A Prison Called School addresses the complex issues that place many students at a disadvantage as they try to survive yet another hurdle in life—school. Although some students are able to navigate and succeed in the current system, other students struggle to survive a system that is unable to meet their needs. For those students, school can feel like a twelve-year prison sentence.
Students who cannot fit the outdated, one-size-fits-all model, are further penalized by a system that blames the struggling student rather than holding the institution accountable. For students to thrive in school, the system, not the students, must change in deep and substantial ways. A Prison Called School is a powerful catalyst for creating the empowering, engaging, and effective learning environments that all students need to succeed in school and life.
Students who cannot fit the outdated, one-size-fits-all model, are further penalized by a system that blames the struggling student rather than holding the institution accountable. For students to thrive in school, the system, not the students, must change in deep and substantial ways. A Prison Called School is a powerful catalyst for creating the empowering, engaging, and effective learning environments that all students need to succeed in school and life.
Metzger builds this study on multiple sources: interviews with high school students (from her doctoral research and earlier); observations of young adults struggling in schools; literature reviews; and personal experiences in education—as a teacher, psychologist, and youth advocate. Her aim is to raise the visibility of high school students by describing their experiences; pose questions about school effectiveness; suggest changes in schooling; and emphasize the need to value, empower, and engage young adults in educational settings. The four chapters in part 1 describe the struggles, challenges, and attributes of high school students; the six chapters in part 2 discuss the elements, features, and requirements for transforming (versus reforming) schools. Metzger chastises schools—specifically, staff and teachers—for creating and maintaining high school environments and curricula that are sterile, disengaging, marginalizing, outdated, oppressive, disconnected, standardized, impersonal, passive, and devaluing. Metzger suggests that though one can find research and literature that provide the bases to transform schools, the educational system continues to exist for itself and for the adults responsible for educating young adults. In fact, schools ought to exist for the students—for supporting, empowering, engaging, respecting, and trusting them and for fostering inquiry and partnerships using strategies leading to ‘succeeders,’ i.e., skilled graduates with dispositions to be active, participatory citizens. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.