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Too Simple to Fail: A Case for Educational Change
Too Simple to Fail presents a startling dissection of what is wrong with our educational system and a set of simple, common-sense steps for improving it. This simplicity, Bausell argues, characterizes both the schooling process and the science of education, as witnessed by legions of researchers who have discovered precious little that their grandmothers didn't already know. Yet surprisingly, based upon the author's own studies and a review of the past 30+ years of educational research, these discoveries boil down to a simple but powerful The only way schools can increase learning is to increase the amount of relevant instructional time for all students.
Here, Bausell demonstrates that classroom instruction is hopelessly obsolete, as are our current testing practices, both contributing to the widening opportunity gap between socioeconomic and racial groups. But with an understanding of what is wrong with education today comes the revelation that the answer to these deficiencies has been available to us all along in the form of the tutorial model, the most effective instructional paradigm ever developed. Only in recent years has it become feasible to simulate this extremely effective instructional medium as a universal option that, in effect, would allow schools to provide relevant instruction as a rule and not an exception. If implemented, a new world of opportunity and potential will finally be available to children, whose learning is so crucial for our future.
The new model presented in this book has implications for identifying not only what is wrong with the way we educate our young, but also why it is wrong, and how the educational process can be made more efficient, effective, and fair.
Here, Bausell demonstrates that classroom instruction is hopelessly obsolete, as are our current testing practices, both contributing to the widening opportunity gap between socioeconomic and racial groups. But with an understanding of what is wrong with education today comes the revelation that the answer to these deficiencies has been available to us all along in the form of the tutorial model, the most effective instructional paradigm ever developed. Only in recent years has it become feasible to simulate this extremely effective instructional medium as a universal option that, in effect, would allow schools to provide relevant instruction as a rule and not an exception. If implemented, a new world of opportunity and potential will finally be available to children, whose learning is so crucial for our future.
The new model presented in this book has implications for identifying not only what is wrong with the way we educate our young, but also why it is wrong, and how the educational process can be made more efficient, effective, and fair.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 2010
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 11, 2026
I’ve had this book in my bookshelf for years.
Now, a week after the school vacation ended I took the time to read it.
It was an interesting and captivating book.
To begin with, what I learned from it, was that the most important part for students’ success in school is their home learning environment and the total instruction time. As a parent, I found that part only logical, since I can see all the ways in which one might accidentally or on purpose create a better or worse environment for learning. In addition there’s a lot of behaviors that can and are trained in such interactions as reading bedtime stories
From a teacher’s perspective however I feel like that means some cases appear just hopeless.
Back to the book though- the author shows that the only thing that determines the amount of learning is time-on-task or in other words the time of instruction, and that is the largest variable between teachers and schools and even just different students in the same class.
As a solution the author proposes that tests should be used to find out what the students know to base the instruction on what needs to be learned for that student. That would require a computer-based testing system before even stating with the learning. And it is also put forth that a completely computer based learning environment might be the optimal way to learn.
Many of the ideas that the author proposed are the same that I have thought of in my short just over a year of teaching at a middle school. One of the surprising things I learned from the book was, that the teacher’s teaching experience and pedagogical training doesn’t affect the amount of learning that the students do. Which makes me wonder about the whole teacher training programs concept.
In general I found it very thought provoking, and the ideas were interesting. Though the computer based learning idea I don’t think would be that good (probably because I read “Glow Kids” last year).
As an aside though - in a way in some cases there is a completely technology based learning environment for the kids who are constantly on their phones- sure it’s not what we have in mind that they should be learning, but it certainly has an effect on them and their abilities.
Now, a week after the school vacation ended I took the time to read it.
It was an interesting and captivating book.
To begin with, what I learned from it, was that the most important part for students’ success in school is their home learning environment and the total instruction time. As a parent, I found that part only logical, since I can see all the ways in which one might accidentally or on purpose create a better or worse environment for learning. In addition there’s a lot of behaviors that can and are trained in such interactions as reading bedtime stories
From a teacher’s perspective however I feel like that means some cases appear just hopeless.
Back to the book though- the author shows that the only thing that determines the amount of learning is time-on-task or in other words the time of instruction, and that is the largest variable between teachers and schools and even just different students in the same class.
As a solution the author proposes that tests should be used to find out what the students know to base the instruction on what needs to be learned for that student. That would require a computer-based testing system before even stating with the learning. And it is also put forth that a completely computer based learning environment might be the optimal way to learn.
Many of the ideas that the author proposed are the same that I have thought of in my short just over a year of teaching at a middle school. One of the surprising things I learned from the book was, that the teacher’s teaching experience and pedagogical training doesn’t affect the amount of learning that the students do. Which makes me wonder about the whole teacher training programs concept.
In general I found it very thought provoking, and the ideas were interesting. Though the computer based learning idea I don’t think would be that good (probably because I read “Glow Kids” last year).
As an aside though - in a way in some cases there is a completely technology based learning environment for the kids who are constantly on their phones- sure it’s not what we have in mind that they should be learning, but it certainly has an effect on them and their abilities.
Displaying 1 of 1 review