Scrooge Meets Dick and Jane

by Roger C. Schank

To hear politicians talk, one would think the entire purpose of school is to assess children rather than educate them. Excitement about learning doesn't seem to be on anyone's agenda. The villains are those who profit from testing mania, make the tests, coach for testing, publish the books on which the tests are based, and believe that the results matter. Children are being taught things they don't need to know and nobody seems to care.

Scrooge Meets Dick and Jane is a cautionary tale of the dangers of educational testing and outmoded curriculum design. Bringing a new twist to Charles Dickens' classic story, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is recast as the head of an educational testing service. He is faced with the ghosts of Education Past, Present, and Future as well as his former mentor, John Dewey. As he observes a horrible future, he comes to understand the harm he has done and its repercussions on the school system. His time with the ghosts and John Dewey leads him to a dramatic turnaround regarding schools and scholastic teaching. It haunts him until he decides to undo the damage he has done to children all over the world.

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Kathy Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

A parody of Dickens "A Christmas Carol" where Scrooge is the CEO of an educational testing company. Most of the elements and characters are there but the theme is that education has been compromised by only teaching to the test and not the joy of learning.

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a well written combination of A Christmas Carol and the problems of the obsession with testing in modern American education. It made me really want to keep teaching, but it made me want to keep teaching overseas where there are fewer standardized tests. The book occasionally went "too far" (suggesting people don't need to learn algebra, for example). For the most part, it made good points and seemed well researched.