Becky Shattuck’s Reviews > Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture > Status Update

In this last chapter, Olson talks about some of the problems with teacher education. She also discusses the pressure public schools and teachers endure to make sure their students do well on standardized tests. However, rather than advocate for changes to the system, she seems to suggest that parents pull their kids from that system and try something like a charter school. That perspective is discouraging.

This last chapter intends to describe the future of education in a way that focuses on learners (as opposed to teacher-centered), but it misses the mark. She talks a bit about brain research. Her description of different parts of the brain "lighting up" during different activities (reading a word vs speaking that it aloud) is used as an argument for differentiation. The chapter just didn't flow logically.

This last chapter was about the importance of recognizing wounds inflicted by schooling in order to be critical of the system, re-engage in education, and work to make improvements. It briefly goes into the idea that it's also important for people to recognize their own contributions to those wounds. In sum, the chapter says people should know their feelings are legitimate, and then work to move on and make changes.

This last chapter provided more examples of people who were "wounded" by school, but it goes further to show how their so-called deficits in school were actually their strengths. One student who struggled with ADD went on to be a poet. Another went on to Brown and advocates for people with learning disabilities. Another went on to teach and then became a successful, innovative principal at an inner-city NYC school.

This last chapter dove deeper into the discussion of tracking as a factory model, designed to perpetuate the status quo. It also described some of the systems within schools and how our current public schools are based off of old models that are no longer relevant.

In this last chapter, she tells the stories of people who have been harmed by low expectations, expectations of perfection, and expectations of mediocrity. She also briefly discusses the negative impact of tracking.

Notes: The second chapter is comprised of personal stories from people who were 'wounded by school.' The one that sticks with me the most is about an average student who earns moderate grades, tests at grade level, but is bored in class. Because he has no behavioral problems, teachers haven't tried to push him to reach his full potential and haven't allowed for him to incorporate his interests into his learning.