Making High School Work

by Thomas B. Gregory

Book by Gregory, Thomas B., Gregory, Tom

269 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to read about this supposedly fantastic, modern school, but by the time I made it a third of the way through, I was put off by some of the school's practices -- such as taking the teenage students camping at the beginning of the year, with boys, girls, and teachers sleeping together in the same small tent. The thought of a troubled teenage girl sleeping skin-to-skin between a much older male teacher and a male student turned me off. And then a teenage girl springing her ankle and riding piggy-back on her male teacher's back all the way down the mountain. ??? Three stars for the school's goals, but I'm not liking all their techniques.

Granted, I was reading this late at night when I was very tired, almost a year ago, so I'm going to go back and see if I misinterpreted these parts.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the time I read this, I was quite enamored with it. Of course, I had never taught a day of my life at that point and was easily swayed. Gregory portrayed an idyllic school. As a prospective teacher, I was quite taken with it.

That infatuation lasted a few years later too. I contacted Gregory to share a paper I had written about his book. He was rather dismissive of it and me.

Of course, in the intervening 17 years I have had a load of experience that suggests the Open School, while wonderful, is certainly not the norm.