Beyond the Classroom

by Laurence Steinberg

Book Overview

Drawing on a nationwide survey encompassing all ethnic and socioeconomic groups, Beyond the Classroom identifies the real nature of the education crisis in America. Laurence Steinberg shares a study of American education as he argues that parents and peers are critical in the success of schools, offering specific ideas on how to improve the nation's education system.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684835754
• ISBN13: 9780684835754
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Must-Read for Those Interested in Reform

Steinberg's book is a splash of cold water making readers face the real state of student achievement in America by focusing on what is influencing our high school students. Through this 10 year longitudinal study, interviewing more than 20,000 students and their parents, and comparing these findings with other prominent studies, Steinberg uncovers the root causes for low student achievement in America as compared to students in other countries and therefore why school reform initiatives have failed. With an emphasis on student engagement in learning, the study looks at factors such as parenting strategies, the influence of peers and extracurricular activities. Steinberg looks primarily at issues beyond the school walls as the data shows these influences (large scale) are greater indicators of student success or failure than teacher's classroom practice or organization of the school system. Each factor is analyzed through the lens of socio-economic status, ethnicity, peer relationships and length of time since immigration to this country. As a result, the reader is forced to question the American culture; the attitudes, beliefs and values we perpetuate. The good news is working hard in school is a strong predictor of academic achievement. Friends and group identity at school make a difference as do parenting techniques. The issues that we need to face are the rampant disengagement of parents in their children's lives, a peer culture that demeans academic success and scorns students who work hard and the negative impact on excessive extracurricular activity on student's achievement.Steinberg makes 10 recommendations to begin refocusing the country's efforts. Each requires our society to take a good hard look at how we `do business'. To increase academic success for all students will require compromises and change on the part of students, parents, schools, businesses, government and mass media.In a sobering thought, Steinberg asserts that "no curricular overhaul, no instructional innovation, no change in school organization, no toughening of standards, no rethinking of teacher training or compensation will succeed if students do not come to school interested in, and committed to, learning. In order to understand how this commitment develops, why it has waned over the past three decades, and, more importantly, how we can reengage students in the business of learning, we need to look, not at what goes on inside the classroom, but at students' lives outside the school's walls. Until we do just this, school reform will continue to be a disappointment, and our students' achievement will fail to improve."I finished the book out of breath. We're in a race to save our children. Will our country pull together in time?

This book helped me as a parent

From his carefully designed, three-year study on American teenagers, Laurence Steinberg has concluded that our kids do badly in school because of the attitudes they hold toward education, the way they are parented, the peer groups they join, and the way they spend their time after school. As a parent, I learned plenty of good, specific ideas for steering my daughter toward academic success. Clearly thought out and written, this book is a fascinating read for anyone who cares about education, children, or the future of our country.

Research that Supports Reality

Steinberg's book "Beyond the Classroom" uses extensive research to determine what every teacher knows really goes on in schools. The VAST majority of schools do their very best to prepare students for whatever the student's future holds, but many students and their families don't value the education enough to really work at it. That is why American performance lags behind that of other industrial nations. I teach high school and I see the "slacker" culture that pervades. Although Steinberg would not go that far, I know that the Media portrays underachievers, and goof offs as cool people, and academics as nerds. Many students simply don't make the effort to learn because they take it for granted and they put things like jobs, sports, and social life ahead of study. Our problems with public education do not begin in the schools, the consumer culture of America teachees children how to think and the results are manifest in the schools. His research supports what I see every day in the classroom. I don't buy what conservative policticians say, because they are not on the front lines like I am. They never include teachers in Ed Reform because they see us as part of the problem. We can help make schools better, but only when parents and children care about it enough. Steinberg hits the nail on the head.

Answers those nagging questions about the decline in SAT's

I have been following the school reform movement for many years. The rhetoric is at times strident and the prescriptions lacking in common sense. I could never be convinced that the people who were writing the books on school reform knew any real teenagers. Steinberg, et al have for the first time in my memory actually gone and asked teenagers why they are screwing up. They went to seven schools and surveyed ALL the students there over a ten year period. Their conclusions fit in with all I know about the problems with declining test scores. This is decidedly not a politically correct book. It addresses why Blacks and Latinos do not objectively perform as well as Whites and why Whites do not perform as well as Asians in high schools. The basic problem is who your kids hang out with. Who their friends are. How they manage their time. This all appears to be a big DUHHH, but school reform people have missed this component completely. In short, this book is the best written and researched book on why scores on the SAT and other objective tests have been falling over the last forty years.

If you have kids in school, READ THIS!!

Excellent book that I'd recommend to any parent with kids in school to any teacher trying to make sense out of some of the problems they're facing with kids in the classroom. A lot of the findings in this book are ones many parents might not want to hear; i.e., much of the responsibility for kids' success in school isn't the schools' or government's fault -- it has to do with good old Mom and Dad. Much of the success and failure in schools today has, in fact, much to do with what goes on "beyond the classroom" -- with peers; with family; and surprisingly, with the culture in which you're raised. And something else is driven home time after time in this book: success comes from hard work! Not from genes Not from wealth. But from hard work! Read this, parents!!