In 1996, around 10,000 tax dollars will put a child through many public schools for a year. About 10,000 private dollars will put him through prep school. Why then, is one system troubled and the other thriving, one vilified and the other celebrated? In this book, a historian of education searches out the lessons that private schooling might offer public education as cries for school reform increases. "Lessons from Privilege" explores a tradition shaped by experience and common sense, and guided by principles that encourage community, personal relationships and high academic standards. These "basic" values make a profound difference in a time when popular culture, which mocks intellectual curiosity and celebrates mental passivity, competes so successfully for students' attention. Arthur Powell uses the experience of private education to put the whole schooling enterprise in fresh perspective. He shows how the sense of schools as special communities can help instill passion and commitment in teachers, administrators and students alike - and how passion and commitment are absolutely necessary for educational success.
The power of economic resources, invested fully in schools, also becomes pointedly clear here, as does the value of incentives for teachers and students. Though the concerns this book brings into focus - for decent character and academic literacy - may never be trendy or easily applied, "Lessons from Privilege" presents ideas for enhancing the humanity and dignity of education in America.
- ISBN10 0674525493
- ISBN13 9780674525498
- Publish Date 1 January 1997
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 31 July 2009
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Harvard University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 300
- Language English