Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture

My rating:

add to my books

Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture

by Kirsten Olson

4.00 · rating details · 30 ratings · 9 reviews

How do we recognize the "wounds" caused by outdated schooling policies? How do we heal them? In her provocative new book, education writer and critic Kirsten Olson brings to light the devastating consequences of an educational approach that values conformity over creativity, flattens students' interests, and dampens down differences among learners. Drawing on dee...more

Hardcover, 222 pages

Published April 24th 2009 by Teachers College Press (first published 2009)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 110)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 16, 2009

Renee rated it

· review of another edition

As a former public school teacher and a current homeschooling mom, I was very interested in reading this book. I think the author makes good arguments for changing the way our schools educate our youth but first universities need to alter the way future teachers are prepared.
Reading Wounded by School has prompted me to make some changes in our homeschool. I have asked my children what they want to learn this coming school year. I discovered my eldest son would rather study US Government th...more

like 1 like

· see review

Jan 01, 2010

Michelle rated it

· review of another edition

"The timeliness of this book falling into my hands cannot be ignored. My son is a brilliant child. He knows more about dinosaurs and space, and did by the age of four, than I ever will in my entire life. At age four, he drew and created his own book a Blue s Clues book that actually had three different clues on different pages and a summary page, just like the TV show. He s already been moved up a grade and yet& last year was a horrible school year. He failed to do any homework, shoved...more"The timeliness of this book falling into my hands cannot be ignored. My son is a brilliant child. He knows more about dinosaurs and space, and did by the age of four, than I ever will in my entire life. At age four, he drew and created his own book a Blue s Clues book that actually had three different clues on different pages and a summary page, just like the TV show. He s already been moved up a grade and yet& last year was a horrible school year. He failed to do any homework, shoved papers into his desk and never brought them home, was constantly getting in trouble/detentions for disrupting the class. We did not find out that there was a significant problem until well into the second half of the school year, at which time his teacher kept telling us that Connor is too bright to be struggling this much . As if the fact that he is intelligent precludes him from ever having difficulties in school. My husband and I tried to stay polite and work within the constraints given to us. Unfortunately, Connor continued to get detentions, failed assignments and generally struggled throughout the rest of the year. When asked, he swears that the teacher did not like him and would tell us of situations that occurred in the classroom where he was either ignored, belittled by the teacher, or both. We saw this incredibly talented, exceptionally bright, eager student who is absolutely fascinated by science turn into a sullen child who resented school and all but refused to do his homework. After reading this book, I now realize that my son has been severely wounded by school.[return][return]The main point behind this book is the fact that our world has changed dramatically over the years. The nearly instantaneous information gathering capabilities we now have should make learning even easier. However, our educational system was created around the Industrial Revolution, when information was difficult to disseminate and following orders reigned supreme. Even though our world, the technology we use, and our understanding of the brain and how we learn, have all changed completely over the years, our educational system has not. Rather, we continue to label and track children, focusing on grades and standardized tests rather than on nurturing children to think critically or actually learn useful information for their future. It s an interesting prospect and one that explains why we cannot seem to perform better when compared to students in other countries, even though we spend millions of dollars on our schools throughout the nation.[return][return]Ms. Olson s book is filled with stories and anecdotes taken from thousands of interviews of people who had school experiences just like my son. Some are still recovering from the pain, humiliation, self-doubt and outright trauma of the situations while others have persevered. While a large majority of her focus is on those with learning disabilities, Ms. Olson pulls no punches when she states that our current school system harms everyone from burning out the talented and gifted to ignoring the ones in the middle to alienated and ostracizing those with problems, behavioral, cognitive or other. If we continue to ignore these traumas, we will continue to produce a workforce that is unprepared both socially and mentally for the business world and stand to lose the potential of hundreds of thousands of students who just give up.[return][return]Coming from a long line of educators in my family and having studied to become a teacher myself, I found Wounded by School to be a fascinating read only because education remains an interest of mine. As I ve mentioned before, coming off of the school year and everything we faced with my son was also a factor in causing me to be so riveted to what Ms. Olson had to say. I was also forced to take a step back and contemplate my own experiences and how those experiences made me who I am today and shaped my own views on the educational system (there is a reason why I didn t become a teacher). I truly appreciate that opportunity to review this book and already have a list of people and family members to whom I am either going to present the book or make them read it. Thank you to Caitlin Price at FSB Associates for this book![return][return]If you doubt this whole concept of being wounded, I ask you to perform the following exercise, as stated in the book. Answering these questions will help you uncover your own attitudes about school and how your own school experiences shaped that attitude. Once you consider them, maybe we can all work together to ensure that our children are not Wounded by School, as we were.[return][return]1. Close your eyes and think back to your earliest memory of school. When was it and what was happening? How did this experience imprint upon you some basic feelings about the process of education? What feelings come up from these early memories?[return]2. What are the components of a positive learning experience for you? What makes a learning experience pleasurable for you?[return]3. How does what is in Question 1 compare with the material in Question 2?[return]4. What are you afraid of when you confront new learning experiences and in what contexts?[return]5. If you could design a school that incorporated the elements of positive learning experiences, what would it be like?"(less)

· see review

Apr 12, 2010

Jane rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: education, nonfiction

This book articulates well how schools are squelching the spark of learning in so many students--and teachers. The stories and examples are wonderful but it falls short on providing a hands-on way to help a school change...I'd still say it's a must-read for anyone working to help schools become engaging places of learning for all students.

· see review

Feb 03, 2011

Lydia rated it

Overall, this book offered some great insights into how our public school systems are broken and how they have, in the process, wounded students and teachers on many levels. Toward the end, I was disappointed that the suggestions she offered were not as creative, practical or applicable as I had anticipated after such a strong start at the beginning of the book. She suggests home-schooling as an option for students, and that just seems like a "cop-out" solution to me, not that home-sc...more

· see review

Oct 14, 2009

Marie rated it

· review of another edition

A powerful book which both examines the flawed educational system in the US from an academic standpoint, and gives heartwrenching personal stories of "successful" adults as examples of how damaging school experiences can be.

· see review

Jul 10, 2009

Madeline rated it

· review of another edition

Not much to say...but it is a MUST read for anyone who's attended school, or homeschools...so everyone. It's that good. I'm going to keep this book to use in later years.

· see review

Jun 24, 2011

Barbara Lovejoy rated it

· review of another edition

I highly recommend this book! We need to do a better job with our students--all our students.

· see review

Jun 17, 2009

becky rated it

· review of another edition

one of my choosen professional development books for the summer

· see review

Nov 17, 2009

Steph rated it

· review of another edition

pretty amazing stuff to think about, very easy to relate to.

· see review

May 08, 2010

Kelsey rated it

· review of another edition

This was a book I had to read for school which was pretty much a sob story about how every single student is wounded by this or that and is not being served by the American education system. I agree that public education is not a good fit for every single student and that there are problems with it, however, I prefer to be more proactive rather than sitting and whining about it!

· see review

Jan 31, 2012

Ginny marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jan 28, 2012

Glenn Moses marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jan 20, 2012

Jessica McCann marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jan 18, 2012

Jeff Pelich is currently reading it · review of another edition

Jan 15, 2012

Pamela J. marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jan 09, 2012

Loreal marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Dec 31, 2011

Frank Spencer marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: school-psychology

Dec 31, 2011

Marla marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Dec 23, 2011

Jordan rated it

· review of another edition

Dec 21, 2011

Gail marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Dec 14, 2011

Lauren Honican marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Nov 25, 2011

Amahla marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Nov 25, 2011

Deven Black is currently reading it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: teachers, school administrators, legislators, parents

Recommended to Deven by: the author

Shelves: professional

Nov 24, 2011

Jay Szpirs marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Nov 21, 2011

Natalie marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Nov 20, 2011

Rebs marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Dec 28, 2011

Kristina Woods added it · review of another edition

Oct 06, 2011

Josephine added it · review of another edition

Nov 06, 2011

Hannah Spencer rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: read-for-school

Sep 13, 2011

Evelyn Cox marked it as to-read · review of another edition

« previous 1 2 3 4 next »

Non Fiction

3 users

Teaching

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

Books by Kirsten Olson

Turning Points: 35 Visionaries in Education Tell Their Own Stories

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About Wounded by School...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture
avg rating	preview: Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture Goodreads rating: 4.00 (30 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7445444-wounded-by-school?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267746325m/7445444.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7445444-wounded-by-school?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture by Kirsten Olson[/url]

Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (1)

Genres

Readers Also Enjoyed

Books by Kirsten Olson

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Wounded by School...

Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combine Other Editions (1)

Genres

Readers Also Enjoyed

Books by Kirsten Olson

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Wounded by School...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (1)