Stupidity and Tears: Teaching and Learning in Troubled Times

by Herbert R. Kohl

In Stupidity and Tears , renowned educator and National Book Award winner Herbert Kohl offers us a thoughtful and ultimately optimistic meditation on the forces that conspire to keep teachers and students "stupid"―i.e., frustrated and unable to excel in an education system that is clearly failing them. Among the topics explored by Kohl are the pressures of standards based assessments and harrowing sink-or-swim policies, the pain teachers feel when asked to teach against their pedagogical conscience, the development of a capacity to sense how students perceive the world, and the importance of hope and creativity in strengthening the social imagination of students and teachers. A rousing call for common sense in the face of dwindling budgets, crippling state mandates, and injudicious politics, Stupidity and Tears is "vintage Kohl―incisive, funny, reflective, profound . . . a provocation to educators to better teach all our children" (Norman Fruchter, NYU Institute of Education and Social Policy).

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Educator best known for his advocacy of progressive alternative education and as the author of more than thirty books on education. He founded the 1960s Open School movement and is credited with coining the term "open classroom."

Reviews

[Amber Woodward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Kohl *gets* it. I needed this book. I needed to hear someone put into words the systemic absurdity that I've encountered in my teaching profession. These are fascinating ideas that make me excited to go into the classroom each day.

[Riegs · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Stupidity that leads to tears is not a matter of people lacking intelligence, or making clumsy or thoughtless decisions, or acting in ways that make them the butt of jokes. It is not a matter of ignorance. Rather, it is a form of institutional and social coercion that traps people into acting in ways they consider to be stupid and, in the context of teaching, counter to the work they fell they must do to help their students. [...] Becoming stupid can be demoralizing. But it can also be a call to resistance and the rebirth of teacher militancy." (11)

YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. This was written in 2004, and it's now 2017, and the preposterousness of canned curriculum is truly being felt. I need all my teacher friends to read this (especially LBS and ELL), to help identify the core of our frustration and begin the discussion of resistance strategies.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Herbert Kohl, and although most of this book missed the mark for me, I really appreciated his thoughts about "cultivated stupidity" among students (and teachers) in schools. He argues that when the school system is stupid, then we are stupid, too.

I call this the "script" of schooling. Everybody has experienced education, so everyone feels like they know what it should be, and even though school hasn't always been good and democratic and liberating, most of us adhere to the system. For marginalized students, this means playing the role of the clown, being stupid in class -- with the teacher, usually white, getting angry.

Another great essay was "Topsy-Turvies," in which Kohl talks about language in the classroom. He says that teachers must listen to what they're saying, perhaps even more than what the students are saying. If students aren't facing you when you're teaching, it's not that they're bad; rather it's that what you have to say isn't of value.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the beginning case studies were interesting, notably those regarding Luis and Antonio, and I really love the analogy of the city of Chelm (a traditional story) to leadership's response to public education: instead of figuring out how to let the town's kids play safely on the hill so the kids stop falling off and hurting themselves, the leadership sets up proclamations and rules that don't actually solve anything, but make it look like they actually want to do something.

However, I've read better and more inspirational educational books that offer better advice on a much more encouraging note. I came away feeling that theorists need to better acknowledge our efforts and triumphs. The education field is challenging, but it's also wonderful and full of inspiration, which our mentors need to encourage.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite of these essays is "Topsy-Turvies: Teacher Talk and Student Talk" because Kohl writes stuff like this: "Teachers should be as resistant and resilient as their students and learn the fine art of defying ignorant authority intelligently." Highly recommended, I just wish there were a bit more coherence to the selection of essays. Now it makes more sense to me how Kohl has been able to write over 40 books in 40 years.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting discussion of how current educational objectives are at odds with the way that children actually learn and teachers actually teach. Raises more questions than it answers about the development of compassion and the reasons for student success or failure.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

this dude inspires me. many quotes from this book have made it to my whiteboard.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just started it, and it's already amazing. Though what else could one expect from him?

[Craresources · Rating 5 out of 5]

GUIDING QUESTIONS for teachers in these TROUBLED TIMES.