Education : Philosophy & Social Aspects

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist spends a year with a legendary high school guidance counselor who gets kids into the right colleges by focusing on self-discovery rather than test scores, grades, and the other traditional tools of the trade. Gwyeth Smith, known as Smitty, has made a national reputation by flouting the conventions of the college application ritual. He often steers kids from the SAT to the ACT, which he considers a more straightforward test that produces higher scores. He urges parents to home in on hidden bargains, scour the country for scholarships, and challenge financial aid offices rather than take out large loans. He will sometimes talk a seeming shoo-in candidate out of setting her sights on the prestigious Ivy League while goading another long-shot student into aiming for that same Ivy League school. His unorthodox approach is grounded on the principle that getting into college shouldn’t just be about getting in; it should be a kid’s first great moment of self-discovery. David L. Marcus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former education writer for U.S. News & World Report, follows Smitty and “his” kids around Oyster Bay High, a diverse public school in Long Island, New York, as he works his unique magic on their applications and their lives. Smitty’s kids run the gamut from the sweet but pathologically disorganized boy next door to the valedictorian who applies to twenty-eight schools. As the year unfolds, Smitty deals in his own ingenious way with almost every complication that can bedevil the applications process. What about the kid who doesn’t test well? The kid who plunges into depression after being rejected by Columbia? The overachieving Korean American boy worried about reverse discrimination? Smitty has answers for all of them. While Smitty excels at easing the pressure of the college hunt, his success comes from imposing a different—and deeper—challenge. He makes kids articulate (orally and in writin more...

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Explores what it is like to be black on campus though the experiences of black students at both predominantly white and predominantly black universities, within a timeline of black education in America and a review of university policy. more...

Price: $41.95

This book presents and discusses an approach to action research which can help dismantle discriminatory and exclusionary practices in education. more...

Price: $44.95

A practical guide for those working in teaching and learning and wanting to carry out action research on their own practice. Useful research tools include the ‘ideal inventory’ designed by the author and widely used in the research context. more...

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A study of the problems facing teachers of adult students, which also provides solutions to the problems and recommendations for further improvement. Part one reviews the literature on adults and the second part deals with the result of a study by members of the Adult Learners Consulting Group. more...

Price: $56.95