Contents

Introduction. “Well, Duh!”: Obvious Truths That We Shouldn’t Be Ignoring

One: Progressivism and Beyond

1. Progressive Education: Why It’s Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find

2. Challenging Students—and How to Have More of Them

3. Getting Hit on the Head Lessons

Two: The Nuts and Bolts of Learning

4. It’s Not What We Teach; It’s What They Learn

5. Who’s Cheating Whom?

6. How to Create Nonreaders: Reflections on Motivation, Learning, and Sharing Power

7. The Trouble with Rubrics

Three: Climate & Connections: How Does School Feel to the Students?

8. The Value of Negative Learning

9. Unconditional Teaching

10. Safety from the Inside Out

11. Bad Signs

Four: The Big Picture: Education Policy

12. Feel-Bad Education: The Cult of Rigor and the Loss of Joy

13. Against “Competitiveness”

14. When Twenty-First-Century Schooling Just Isn’t Good Enough: A Modest Proposal

15. Debunking the Case for National Standards

Five: Beyond the Schools: Psychological Issues & Parenting

16. Atrocious Advice from Supernanny

17. Parental Love with Strings Attached

18. Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated: The (Troubling) Theory and Practice of Control from Within

19. Cash Incentives Won’t Make Us Healthier

Credits

Index