by Herbert Kohl
This book, by the author of 36 Children and The Open Classroom, is about the art of teaching. The son of a construction company owner in the Bronx, Kohl wanted from childhood to become a teacher. After graduating from Harvard and doing graduate work in logic at Oxford, he earned an M.A. at Columbia's Teachers College in order to get into the classroom. This memoir tells how he learned from experience, first with the retarded, then with the toughest, most disenchanted children. Kohl, who has had his troubles with educational authorities, argues that in every case he has been trying to take the side of the child—not the institution. Once, his sympathetic pupils made him a badge that said "Honorary Student." Indeed, that is what he has been for the past 20 years—a teacher who continues to learn the art of teaching. He writes that "a teacher's role is to strengthen young people, to build sensitivity and intelligence, and to refuse to make any final judgment on what it is possible for any young person to do." Every aspiring teacher should read this book. So should parents who care about their children's education. (Harper & Row, $13.95)
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