Why America's Children Can't Think: Creating Independent Minds for the 21st Century

by Peter Kline

Arguing against the use of standardized testing, the author uses his experience as an innovative teacher to outline a plan for fostering creative thinking among American youth.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Janine · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a certified elementary teacher who taught 6th grade science for 10 years, I was very disappointed in this book. The author makes a lot of presumptions about what he THINKS is going on in America's classrooms today. I'm curious to know when was the last time he was inside a classroom/school and observed what is going on. He makes a lot of blanket statements about teachers that I do not think are true -- maybe 20 or 30 years ago, yes, but not today (at least in my experience).

I was also a little personally offended by his statements regarding teachers knowing their subject so well that they forget what it is like to not know it -- thereby they come to the conclusion that students who don't "get" the material are either stupid or lazy. That is simply not true. MOST teachers DO remember and understand what it is like to be in the position of the learner who doesn't know what he/she knows. This is part of the art of being a good teacher. This is a quality that most teachers have that sets them apart from non-teachers.

I picked this book up because the title interested me. And, yes, it is true that many children today do not know how to think for themselves. But is this a product of our schools or parenting or a little of both? He mentions nothing of the impact parents have on children's ability to problem solve and think.

He makes a case for some of the blame being put on how children are taught to read. I think there was some merit to this. He discusses an alternate method that he developed that supposedly solves many of the reading problems encountered by young children. I found this very interesting, and I kept reading on and on....waiting to get to the part where he would explain what this method is. I kept waiting to read specifics on HOW to teach reading the way he is suggesting. He never did. As a parent of two preschoolers, I was VERY interested in learning about it, but he simply never gave the information that was in any way useful to a parent wishing to try it out at home or to a teacher wishing to try it out in his/her classroom, for that matter. I think he should have included this in the book, instead of all the other "junk" in the middle that, frankly, lost my interest.

I think the author's heart was in the right place when writing this book, but I think he came across as being woefully out of touch with teachers in today's classrooms.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt this author made insightful observations, a teaching generation too late. His ideas have been implemented in school districts since the 1990s and children still have problems learning how to read. It was a neat story of how he came to recognize the problem with reading instruction, but we all know the DICK AND JANE method of reading was not effective. This is not new. And, the concept of blending phonics with whole language has been tried already. The ideas were not new to me.

[Silvia Cachia]

Very thought provoking, and it touches a variety of themes with the education and thinking background topic. It made me want to read more, and read well. From it I went to one of my favorite books, How to Read a Book... Excellent.