Learning Not Schooling

The most vital problem facing the school establishment today is its growing irrelevance to the post industrial economy. American inventiveness has been in steep decline for decades. Think of this book as a shovel to help dig us out of the grave for creativity classrooms have become. -- John Taylor Gatto, Author of Dumbing Us Down
All too often, school reformers are consumed with the "hows," rather than the "why's" of education. Lyn Lesch, a deschooler in the tradition of Ivan Illich and John Taylor Gatto, has tied the two together in this controversial and timely critique of present-day, test-driven, results-oriented schooling. If you are an educator or policy maker, "Learning Not Schooling" should be high on your reading list. -- Michael Klonsky, director, Small Schools Workshop, Chicago, and author of Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society
Arguing that there is a disconnect between learning and schooling in US education, Lesch proposes an approach that is more conducive to the natural tendencies of the learner. He provides a model that addresses what healthy, effective learning is (not necessarily connected to the ways of schooling today) and discusses how schools can address the inequalities between the rich and the poor, and connect students to larger society. * Research Book News, August 2009 *
Lesch posses a progressive approach to educating students in a modern and changing world. This book is simple to follow, and Lesch clearly outlines both his theory and approach to changing the education system to reflect the way people naturally learn and to make academic leaning more meaningful for students. This book should be read by educators and policy makers, as it will force them to reconsider the way students are educated in schools today. Recommended. * CHOICE, April 2010 *
Test, punish, and test some more. For the past decade, the public conversation about how we can best educate our children has rarely departed from this narrative. But with this book, Lyn Lesch dares to dream of something different, to shake us out of our collective stupor and remind us that it doesn't have to be this way. -- Gregory Michie, author of Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher and His Students