Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic and Miseducated Students

by Denise Clark Pope

This book offers a highly revealing and troubling view of today's high school students and the ways they pursue high grades and success. Denise Pope, veteran teacher and curriculum expert, follows five motivated and successful students through a school year, closely shadowing them and engaging them in lengthy reflections on their school experiences. What emerges is a double-sided picture of school success. On the one hand, these students work hard in school, participate in extracurricular activities, serve their communities, earn awards and honours, and appear to uphold school values. But on the other hand, they feel that in order to get ahead they must compromise their values and manipulate the system by scheming, lying, and cheating. In short, they do school, that is, they are not really engaged with learning nor can they commit to such values as integrity and community. The words and actions of these five students - two boys and three girls from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds - underscore the frustrations of being caught in a grade trap that pins future success to high grades and test scores. Their stories raise critical questions that are too important for parents, educators, and community leaders to ignore. Are schools cultivating an environment that promotes intellectual curiosity, cooperation, and integrity? Or are they fostering anxiety, deception, and hostility? Do today's schools inadvertently impede the very values they claim to embrace? Is the success that current assessment practices measure the kind of success we want for our children?

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Parenting, Psychology, School, Sociology

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[joanna]

Read this for a methods class I’m taking and it was a fascinating read but there were so few solutions and barely any discussion of ways to help the students

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a high school teacher, I would have to say this depiction of American high schools is fairly accurate. Though the school being profiled seems to be an elite one, the mix of students represented does provide a diversity of perspectives. I would love to see a similar book with the teachers' perspectives on their roles and why they make the decisions they do. From my own view, teachers at all levels feel pressure from many angles and often feel constrained by the very system they are working in (and have helped to create).

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, because I was disappointed in the lack of author analysis and solutions. This book profiles a handful of kids in an affluent CA high school (it's anonymized but my guess is Bay Area) in the late 1990s-2000. I imagine they graduated the same year I did or maybe the year before.

The kids:
Kevin- half Japanese, high tracked slacker with a competitive streak
Eve- Chinese animatron student giving herself ulcers with stress, bound for the Ivy League
Teresa- [illegal?] Mexican immigrant with high absenteeism but a better work ethic than several other Mexican classmates
Michelle- white girl from unique charter elementary school adjusting to public high school, taking regular-track classes and a lot of emphasis on drama/performing arts
Roberto- Hispanic student who makes decent grades but has high anxiety and is extremely deferential to authority

This book is 150 pages of exposition/shadowing and 30 pages of analysis. And maybe one page of ideas for improvement (shrink school size, give "mastery projects" instead of a bunch of tests, award academic credit for other projects aside from what is strictly required in class).
All of these kids cheat. All of these kids are motivated by money or the promise of making lots of money after going to college. They pretty much all cram information into their heads long enough to get an A or B (and melt down if they forget). Most of them are willing to game the system for their benefit.

Anyway, I didn't feel like this book lived up to its title. The analysis/solutions part came off as rushed and half-baked as most of the work that the kids she profiled turned in to their teachers.

[D. Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pope portrays very clearly how students get caught up in the rat race of grades and resume-building.

It is unfortunate that the prevailing view about education is that you have to be a top notch student to survive in our country. Education becomes about getting a good job and not about cultivating a love of learning and gaining true knowledge.

Pope doesn't offer many solutions, but the few she does offer are not on point. Students will be delivered from this rat-race when they have parents and teachers who inspire them to love knowledge and education for its own sake.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was so much like wv it was honestly scary

[Seneca Hart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing- the scope is so limited, I could not feel like I was getting anything out of it as I was reading. Definitely quit this one well before the end.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book and one that I, mostly, enjoyed reading! It seemed to get bogged down towards the middle/end just because it wasn't quite as "informative," it was more about how these students felt in their day to day school life, but still, there was some interesting portions and I found it very useful in helping me feel just that much more informed about the avenues we decide to encourage our children down.
All in all, a good read!

[Allison Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for a class but it was a whole book so it’s going on my good reads!

[Ko Matsuo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Denise Pope paints a picture of public education where grades have come to signify the only outcome that matters. She gets into the lives of 5 high school students and describes the method which students use to cheat, create allies, and learn to work the system in order to succeed. She describes a system which was designed to profit the top 15% only.

Fascinating read. Helps you put words to a system that is focused on optimizing efficiency rather than individual needs.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fellow teacher recommended this book to me. "You'll be appalled and discouraged!" she warned. After reading this, however, I was not appalled or discouraged, and I was actually dumbfounded as to how she had been teaching for so long and was [appalled and discouraged].

The general idea of this expose is that someone (an admissions officer from Stanford, actually) follows 5 students who are considered the "top of the top" at a privileged high school in California for a year (I'm fairly certain by her implications, though I don't think it's overtly stated anywhere). Each chapter is devoted to one of the students, who come from very diverse backgrounds, and studies their motivation, work-ethic, and so on. I think what was supposed to be the "appalling and discouraging" part of the book was the fact that many of the students know how to "beat the system of school." They know which classes to enroll in to fix their GPAs (which God forbid, drop below a 4.0), what teachers to make alliances with for the highest advantage, the best ways to cheat, how to buy support from the administration, and so on. I don't think this was supposed to be something that I took in stride. However, it was only a mere 6 years ago that I was in high school myself. While I never cheated (EVER, seriously- you can get in major trouble for a stupid mistake-) I know how it works. I was in AP classes with students who were playing these same games, some more successfully than others. The student in the book I could relate to, though, was the one who was constantly on the verge of a meltdown. I have long been victim to a yearly Spring Breakdown (which as someone recently reminded me, should have rendered me to medication- how insulting!), and spent the rest of the year avoiding sleep to make the most out of my education. This student, like myself, would stay up for obscene amounts of time studying for a test (and I'm not talking cramming, I mean, studying this way for weeks prior), and kicked herself in the shins when she didn't do well. I feel like you can't be proud of yourself if you don't try your hardest- we share that sentiment. On the other hand, some of these students are Class A Douchebags, who are angry and mean, solving their problems with Daddy's money, and assuming that a spot in an Ivy League is open for them as long as Daddy's wallet is equally open. These were the people I went to college with (as an overwhelming percent).

Some of the situations were really sad (ie: the native Spanish speaker failing Spanish because she couldn't get to school on time. As the only person in her large family with a driver's license it was her responsibility to get her family to work, interviews, school, and so forth. Additionally, as the only English speaker in her family, she was constantly battling for their rights, missing other school engagements. She also worked full-time, yada yada. The list of strikes against this girl is never ending, but she made it work so that she could leave the situation she'd been stuck in for 18 years.)

While as a whole this book was interesting, I didn't find it surprising, and I imagine that anyone (especially people in the field of education) would.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When a course curriculum is divided into discrete units and tasks with little cohesion between units, and when the emphasis is on learning facts and techniques as opposed to problem-solving skills or deep understanding of fundamental themes and theories, it is no wonder that students pursue tasks with a robot-like mentality and show little interest in or engagement with the material."

I read this book as part of the monthly @readlikeateacher book club. This book may be 17 years old, but little has changed in those 17 years about high school. The same struggles that plague these five students are still present today. I would be curious to know if a similar study was conducted today what stressors those students would have. With the increasing importance of having the perfect college application while navigating the world of both high school and social media, I think the results might find that we have worsened the stress level of high school students.

So what can we do as educators? That's a hard question to answer as a complete overhaul of the system is really the only way we can stop the cycle we have created for what it means to "do" school. I will definitely be rethinking some practices in my own classroom as a result of this book.

[Brienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a teacher, I do understand, and even desire, the need for educational reform. I agree with some of the points the author makes in this book. However, I am concerned with the limited scope of the study and the lack of consideration of other aspects of the students' lives than just the school system. The book points out all of the issues with the current public school system, and states that there are solutions, but it never discusses any of these said solutions. I am tired of books that choose to point out countless problems but not give any suggestions or solutions. Ruminating in the issues doesn't bring us any closer to a solution than pushing forward with a broken system.

[Aliya Khasseneyeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

An example of an ethnographic study. I really like how she presents an academic research in a comprehensive way. Easy to read, easy to understand but to be honest, makes me sad. I'm sad for the students all over the world who have to sacrifice their childhood because of marketization and performativity. Sadly the parents force them to do that... I hope I won't be one of those parents. However, I'm impressed by these students' perseverence and hard work. They are ambitious, and despite of such a young age they alreeady know what they want (not all of them though. Kevin, for example, just obeys his father). Must-read!

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doing School reveals a disturbing trend in today's high schools. Denise Pope introduces the reader to five students who will stop at nothing to get good grades, including sacrificing their morals. Based on the belief that their grades will be the determinant of their future lives, the reader cannot help but empathize. As such, Pope stresses the importance of taking a closer look at the messages that are sent to today's youth. Sad but true, “doing school” has caused students to lose their LOVE of learning!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Not great, but not terrible. I wasn't a fan of the mostly anecdotal approach; I would have appreciated more concrete, quantitative research. It was well-written, but it certainly didn't offer any alternatives to the "stressed-out" schools under which we operate.

[sonny]

this first book i've read in a million years and it was for school

[David Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day at work, I subbed one hour for a colleague in the science department. Reading over his lesson plans, you would think he had the most hard working, dedicated students around. He even described them as our school’s “best and brightest.” But when the students began flooding in after lunch, I heard nothing but complaints, how they had not understood a single thing so far this year, and how about half of them were planning on dropping the class at the end of the semester.

Denise Clark Pope’s Doing School–a phrase she uses to describe many students’ process of “going through the correct motions” rather than “on learning and engaging with the curriculum”–addresses this exact discrepancy. We want the best for our students and like to think we are giving it to them, but when we listen to what they have to say about academics, it becomes clear that something is wrong. Considering Pope followed a handful of students in the mid-1990s and the book was published in 2001, this appears to be a phenomenon that is, unfortunately, still alive and well.

The complaints of the five students that Pope profiles here, despite coming from a vastly more affluent and diverse district than my own, are disturbingly familiar to me. These students learn early on how to assimilate and disappear within the student body when they need to, how to voice complaints when they feel–or want to intimate–they have been treated unfairly, how to suck up to certain teachers when they want to get out of classwork or boost their grades.

They are intrinsically motivated, but not so much to learn as to get ahead for college applications and eventual financial rewards. For them, school means figuring out how to game the system, how to go along to get along, rather than about gaining an understanding of civics or the critical thought necessary to democracy or a fulfilled life. And while my own students aren’t gunning for Ivy League universities, they still exhibit many of the same core behaviors.

There are no quick fixes to these sorts of problems, especially since students are uniquely situated due to varying home lives and levels of precarity. It doesn’t help that our society is one based on hyper-individualized competition and greatly at odds with the educational outcomes we often espouse. But, I guess, as Pope says, changes begin with listening to the students themselves.

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book attempts to analyze the problems with elite high schools and, while it might have done a good job of this in its time, I truly cannot recommend it as a read to anyone approaching any modern educational thought; the unfortunate truth of the matter is that it's outdated.

For some background, I read this book as someone who graduated from a very intense Bay Area high school, one famous for its academic pressure, low student mental health, etc. Upon picking up this book, I thought it would be a look into my life from a critical perspective, one which would showcase and analyze all the ways in which my struggle to make it to a top university fundamentally affected my learning and development. I did not get this.

To start with some positives, she has a strong voice throughout her writing, one which makes it compelling to read in and of itself. If she framed her writing as less pressing issue and more vignette, I would've appreciated that more.

Unfortunately, the premise of the book—that there is an increasing "academic arms race" among high school students—is vindicated by the way I couldn't take any of the students seriously. The entire time I was reading about Kai, for example, all I could think was "brother calm down you have a 3.7 GPA, you aren't getting into an Ivy no matter how hard you grind."

Is this objectively insane and wholly my fault? Yes, but that's precisely why I don't recommend it. This book is not an accurate interpretation of the struggles of elite high schools, because (just as it foretold,) the academic arms race has surpassed this book to the point that reading it felt like watching an old woman in a nursing home give me a nickel to buy some penny candy.

If you want to read solely for Pope's storytelling skill, I support that. But if you want to read it for what its title claims—to learn "How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students"—I fear this book is not the place to find that.

[Susan Dufner · Rating 2 out of 5]

After 14 pages into this 175 page book, I wanted to throw it at the wall. Doing School: How we are creating a generation of stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated students, features in-depth interviews of a group of six high school students and their beliefs about learning and achievement in order to seek academic success. What we hear is story after story of over scheduled, competitive, grade-motivated students desperate to measure up to family, friends, teachers and ultimately themselves as they strive for top spots in the country's best colleges. These are intelligent and sometimes reflective students who know their means are sometimes dishonest, wonder what they may be missing, but ultimately continue as they are, believing that an educational meritocracy will someday get them to somewhere--they're not sure what, but it includes a lot of money and prestige. It's not all their fault, after all they are children building personal identities in which learning and intelligence are prized. This story will not leave you surprised at the motivations of wealthy parents and education administrators in the news who have the money to create a market to exploit academic ambition. This book could have delivered the same message in 125 fewer pages. It makes a good point (so two stars), but lingers too long in its own confirmation bias neglecting a robust examination of other possible causes.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw this book on the library free-shelf, I was curious to what it had to say about education in society today. There were some interesting thoughts but it was based on only five students in this one school district so I think a lot more data needs to be collected before it can be made as a general statement. Basically, the book stated that high-achieving students were doing a lot of behaviors to get ahead rather than just being motivated to learn. Sure........we all do things to get ahead and are motivated by more than just the "joy" of learning. I wish it wasn't that way but we are motivated by things in our future such as a good college or a well-paying job. We are all motivated by our parents to do well, and so I don't think these students were out of the ordinary. I believe they could be found at any school in our country today. I'd love to see a system where kids could be motivated to learn and be evaluated on the process rather than being subjected to high-stakes tests but that is not where we are as a society. In life behind the classroom we face pressures and unfair assessments too....school trains us for life. I do feel politicians should listen to teachers and students rather than passing laws that just make for more hopes to jump through instead of helping our students engage in genuine learning.

[J-H. vW]

My brother is a teacher who complains a lot about the lack of enthousiam of his students. I have been meaning to read this book for a long time now, ever since I heard about "No child left behind" (NCLB). It seems to me that even American teachers are critical of the demands put on the whole system of education. In my opinion you will become what you were educated to be. As the people who were educated at the beginning of this century will pretty soon be running the USA, this book might give me some understanding of why they do what they do.

[Kayla Sokoloff · Rating 3 out of 5]

The majority of the book is made up of profiles of five students that the author followed for a year. It was incredibly interesting to learn about the students experiences and deep dives into their journeys over the year. The last part of the book gives some potential idea for how we can fix the school system. While the author obviously did her research, the ideas felt a bit to broad and not exactly feasible changes in the foreseeable future.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author concisely presented information gleaned from shadowing the students, but offered little to no solid solutions at the end of the book on how to improve current public educational strategies. The conclusion simply summed up the problems and how the students found their way through school. Not as insightful as I expected. I didn’t learn anything new that I wouldn’t have guessed would be the logical flow of high school student’s transition to adult life.

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things that distinguishes this book for others that describe the mindlessness of our educational system and how it does not foster deep thinking, is that this book focuses on the students who are supposedly doing the best and should therefore be getting the most out of it, but actually are not. And in schools that would be defined as "high achieving." They turn out to be those that have just learned how best to play the game to "do school."

[Marni · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading a few student accounts, I looked at the publication date and am astounded that this book was written in 2002. We haven't made progress. We have gone deeper into this spiral of grades and test scores where passions are not the focus and students who can play the game succeed in high school. Overall, I just felt profound sadness at how little high school is preparing students for life or giving them opportunities to grow and expand their passions.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the in-depth study of 5 students, there was little offered in the firm of solutions to the problems highlighted. I was also really disappointed to get to the chart summarizing the 5 students at the end of the book to find that 2 of them were apparently struggling with their gender identity - this had to have affected their educational experience, and yet even with googling, I could find no information regarding that.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written 20 years ago. Sadly, things have not changed. What she spends most of the book describing is exactly what I see and hear every single day. I kept waiting for an answer or a solution or an idea. Only in the last 4 pages did she mention alternative types of schools. But then she quickly backtracked and said with the push for grades and college admissions and without serious educational reform, this is unlikely to happen. So I guess we're just stuck with this?

[Lily Claire ⚜️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Case studies of 5 California high school students form diverse backgrounds exploring the shadows of ethics and scholarship between students and the administration. Adequately captures the complexities of students lives and their struggles to achieve in a competitive environment influenced by the “grade trap”. Disappointingly lacking solid strategies for reform but serves as high quality qualitative data albeit in need of further analysis.

[Dorothy Vandezande · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[These students] seem to be diligent, talented, and focused. They get good grades, win awards... but in pursuit of this success, the students participate in behavior of which they are not proud...[behavior which] contradicts the very traits and values many parents, students, and community members expect schools to instill."

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some interesting moments, both in the stories of the students and the larger conclusions about schooling, but overall it doesn't move the needle a whole lot for me. It's not that deep or eye-opening for me as an educator, though some of that may be because I'm coming to it almost 20 years later.