Education and the Cult of Efficiency

by Raymond E. Callahan

Raymond Callahan's lively study exposes the alarming lengths to which school administrators went, particularly in the period from 1910 to 1930, in sacrificing educational goals to the demands of business procedures. He suggests that even today the question still asked is: "How can we operate our schools?" Society has not yet learned to ask: "How can we provide an excellent education for our children?"

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, History

Paperback

Published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[James Van Duker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after reading "The Underground History of American Education" by John Gatto. Gatto's book is really just his own musings -- the musings of a man who spent his life in the US education system and was disgusted by it. He uses no references, but at the end of the book provides a list of books that he recommends as his "references." This was one of them.

Gatto's book had a powerful influence on me. I found out that I wasn't alone in believing that the US education system is critically flawed. It gave me the courage to want to change it. At the end of my life I may say that Gatto's book influenced my career path more than any other.

So, I read Education and the Cult of Efficiency, and I loved it for the opposite reason that I loved Gatto. Callahan, in a dry, methodical, and scholarly way (nearly the opposite of Gatto, who was pure passion without the scholarly discipline) chronicles the dismantling of the US school system and its reassembly in in the image of "efficiency."

The old educators, classically trained and scholarly, were kicked out and replaced with administrators whose purpose was not to educate, but to economize, to create "school factories" where raw material, children, were inputted at one end, and in a most efficient, cost effective manner, assembled piece by piece, each in the exact same manner, into an educated human being.

The analogy of a brick was used by reformers of the day in referring to children. They wanted the production of educated children to be done like a brick factory would produce bricks on an assembly line.

Unfortunately, children are not mindless raw material. They are human beings with minds, creativity, individual passions, abilities, with endless potential in myriad talents. Education should nourish and develop the human mind, body, and soul. It should involve great educators, who can connect with children on a human and personal level, loving, coaching, mentoring, teaching, and leading them to bring out all of the latent potential within themselves. And yet, unfortunately, our school system resembles a brick factory.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the easiest read but a very fascinating read. I found it depressing -- for a few reasons. One big one is that we are no closer to fixing any of these problems than we were in the early 1900s. And again, our reasons for doing what we do are as questionable as they were then. The good thing about this book is how important it is for us to understand how we got here. It is a shame that this book published in 1962 is as relevant as it is.

[psyomn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, albeit a bit (academically) dry at times.

[Sheralyn Belyeu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book uses speeches given at educator's meetings, excerpts from school administrator's textbooks, and letters from teachers to show how political and business interests took control of the schools away from scholars at the beginning of the twentieth century. Nearly a hundred years later, teachers are still burdened by cumbersome paperwork and frustrated by politicians and special interests telling them how to run the schools. These outside pressures came disguised as professionalization and efficiency, but the anti-intellectual changes were entirely unnecessary. For a look at how the Japanese professionalized teaching and saved money on public schools, see The Teaching Gap by Stigler and Hiebert and The Learning Gap by Stevenson and Stigler.

[wally · Rating 2 out of 5]

there's this line from one of alfred bester's stories that applies here....this guy, stranded on a spaceship, manages to jaunte out of there...to another...spaceship....just drifting around, a pile of junk that has accumulated...he's asked to decide, choose. "most scientific."

education the cult of efficiency. at times you want to pull out your hair. then you stop, think, and wonder just what the hail is happening now. fubar? snafu? tarfu? yeah, probably all of the the above.

some people just know best. others document their efforts and what happens. this is a case in point.

[Bekah Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative, interesting, and enlightening to read how our education system arrived at its current state. Thought provoking and challenging for those passionate about reforming America's educational system.

[Patrick Quirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very detailed historical account of the integration of business concepts with education in the US in the early 1900s. While I skimmed more than I read, I expect to use this as a reference for citing the history of issues which are still being debated today.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone in public education, especially those in administration, should read this book.