Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School

by Theodore R. Sizer

Book Overview

First published in 1984, this best-selling classic is Theodore Sizer's eloquent call to arms for school reform. In a new preface, Sizer addresses the encouraging movements afoot today for better schools, smaller classes, and fully educated students. Yet, while much has changed for the better in the classroom, much remains the same: rushed classes, mindless tests, overworked teachers. Sizer's insistence that we do more than just compromise for our...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618516069
• ISBN13: 9780618516063
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 257 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.3" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

How Far Can You Up The Ante?

Since the other reviewers won't tell you what Horace's compromise is, I will. Every high school teacher sooner or later comes to the place where the most important career decision has to be made. Put in the positive sense, the question is: how far are you willing to live for your ideals, i.e., truly educate your students, and keep your standards at the highest levels, in other words, standards you are comfortable with? Put in the negative: how far can you continue to hold respectable standards for student achievement and still survive on the job? Today's high school presents an enormously challenging environment. Very simply, adminstrators and students wield entirely too much power in the classroom, power which has been taken from the teacher. It's not for no reason at all that every pedagogic training institution shows its prospective teachers "The Crucible" (By the way, the term is "classroom hell" - and regardless of what they say, teaching pundit advice aside, it comes to most every teacher - the only difference being in degree). Walter Annenberg, a media mogul whose controversial dealings made him one of the richest men in the world (he purchased the last Van Gogh ever auctioned), in the late 1980's, funded the education department at Brown University with the largest grant ever awarded to an academic institution in America. Say what you will about Ted Sizer. He succeeded where most academics fail miserably. He procured enough money to research education for many, many lifetimes. The first fruits of this research are embodied in the trilogy which begins with Horace's Compromise. I think Annenberg was probably somewhat disappointed. Like many aged, reactionary richies, he attributed most of our nation's woes to our troubled educational system - and this putative disaster - the source of all evil - on bad, incompetent teaching, particularly in our public high schools. In fact, this very sentiment was echoed by controversial retired fed chief, Alan Greenspan, in his recent memoir, THE AGE OF TURBULANCE. I do not agree with these assessments. In some instances, the teacher may be at fault - and certainly the ills of the schools of Victorian England as graphically depicted in the tormented pages of the most influential educational reformer in history - Charles Dickens - may be laid at the feet of bad teachers. And they were. But the day when the teacher had the last word in either discipline or curriculum, or almost anything else, are long gone - as far gone, in fact, as the brutal alma maters of David Copperfield and Oliver Twist. The bulk of the onus for the solution to today's problems resides with administrators and, frankly, overworked and underpaid parents, who are often treated with a measure of the disrespect experienced by many teachers in the classroom. But, as a explanation of the dilemmas of teaching, I believe Horace's Compromise does better than it's critics claim. As to the solutions, how much better is the standard of suc

The classic on High School reform

This first of Sizer's Horace trilogy is a must read for those interented in high school reform. Based on years fo field research Sizer, through his composite teacher, describes how even the best intentiioned teachers are handcuffed in trying to meet all their studetns needs in our current educatinal system, even in the best of our comprehensive high schools. He analyzes the shortcomings and closes with a blueprint for restructuring. His later books take that blueprint into more detail. The writing is engaging and persuasive.

changing lives

as a framework for understanding the coallition of essential schools (a type of restructuring which changes the school into a place that works for students, not against them) this book is amazing. looking at the flaws of america's public school system, this book is one that offers suggestions for change in a way that anyone can understand. horace, a characiture of many teachers, leads the way for his high school to be the best it can be. a must read for anyone who is interested in education.

This book has really opened my eyes.

If you're going to be a high school teacher, this book could be a useful tool. First published in 1984, Sizer takes an in-depth look at American high schools. He not only points out strengths and weaknesses, but offers a course of action for how we can make our schools work the best for each individual student. The only problem I really had with the book was that the statistics were outdated but through reading in my Education class, I've found that most of them hold true. It was easy to read and I found the chapters about the average days of students and teachers very telling.

accurate, realistic, what high schools are really about toda

Theodore Sizer accurately portrays high schools in the shape they are in today. He praises where it's due and as is more often the case, addresses areas of concern. However, he doesn't merely throw stones, more importantly he offers solutions. What he is talking about is real restructuring, not simply reorganizing. We need to think carefully about how our schools are designed and do a better job of fitting them to our students' needs. Sizer offers actual interviews with students, teachers, administrators, all the stakeholders in education today. This book could only be written by a man who truly loves kids and schools, yet agonizes over all the wasted opportunities. Sizer wants what we all want, to be more effective in the classrooms. This book is challenging, frustrating, and sometimes joyous, basically what a typical high school teacher feels every day in the front lines of the classroom. A must read for every teacher, regardless of beginner or veteran. It has something for everybody.