Horace's Hope: What Works for the American High School

by Theodore R. Sizer

Book Overview

From America's "most prominent school reformer" (LOS ANGELES TIMES) comes a stirring personal meditation on what works-and what doesn't-in our high schools today. Revisiting America's classrooms, Sizer assesses the changes over the past decade and a half - from school choice to interdisciplinary learning - that give us reason to be hopeful. Tracy Kidder has called this"an eloquent book."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395877547
• ISBN13: 9780395877548
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

More Hope for Horace

Ted Sizer's stories of what's happening in American high schools seem accurate and familiar. What's embarrassing is that a guy like him can go in, study the situation, identify what is happening and proceed to make changes, one school at a time, and have it grow into a nationwide movement. I say embarrassing because there are administrators (and teachers) in these schools year after year, who, either don't notice what Sizer sees or don't seem to be committed enough to affect change.It's almost an "Emperor has no clothes story". Nobody wants to sayanything to rock the boat-until it all collapses.Sizer stops short of saying there will be anything like a revolution- he knows schools change too slowly to do that-but he does make a strong case for the embarrassment of America's underperforming and the underprivileged. I understand exactly what he's talking about when he talks about how poorly even the good students can discuss what they've learned, or identify what are the main ideas of what they've read. AS a teacher, I know their ability to make connections in history or have a sense of geography is abominable. It would almost be excusable except for the fact that teachers have been going through their gyrations of lessons since the kindergarten year. For the most part- the teachers blame the students. I like the fact that Sizer does not.The power of America's media is well known, but I hadn't thought of it as the great American cultural unifier, supplanting the American school. This is an interesting notion. If this is true, it should free the schools of their self-imposed responsibility to teach American values, and therefore the schools can take a firmer position on scholarship, for example. The predominance of the media as culture gives us all the more reason to ask students (and ourselves)- `How do we make sense out of all of this?' The opposite path would be to bury our heads in a textbook reading- answering the questions at the end of the chapter. As Sizer (speaking of technology and the media) puts it, "The imagination has new equipment in its arsenal". However some (the poor) have no equipment.I don't know why it takes a man like Sizer to remind us of our responsibilities to citizens in the name of democracy.Politicians and administrators should be leading the way in this regard, instead of obstructing positive change. Politicians preach equality every day- but Sizer seems to accomplish more toward the goals of freedom and equality despite having far less influence to start with. It's not just the schools that are broken. "What about standards for a system that accelerates the inequity in which they (children) live?" (p28) or standards for educators and politicians? (p46).I concur with Sizer's view that there are two movements in America, top down and bottom up. This unspoken conflict is the reason for little or no change in our school system. Teachers want bottom up change, but instead, they are reluctantly implementing top down programs

Real good read

Theodore Sizer, the Chairman of the Coalition of Essential Schools has written his third book about the experiences and observations of Horace Smith, his fictional representation of an American high school English teacher. Theodore Sizer launched a successful but slow-paced revolution that requires more and elicits more from adolescent students. He participated in a study that revealed that today's schools teach useless fact memorization and have weak curriculums that do not challenge the students or the teachers. In this book, Horace's Hope, Sizer picks up where he left off in his previous two books. Sizer revisits the schools from his previous books, and sees that not much has changed at all. Sizer contends that the new school is no longer the academies but instead is the media. He says that schools must give students the tools to understand the media's message, and if necessary challenge their profit-driven ideas. He believes that the goal is "informed skepticism". This can be achieved through small classes and a multidisciplinary curriculum. Instead of the normal standardized exams, our students need to do project-orientated goals that are displayed much like a dissertation. Both the teachers and the parents must decide upon the curriculum. This opens up for Sizer's next opinion about the schools and communities. He makes a strong case for school choice. He proposes a solution to the problems of bad schools in both bad and good neighborhoods. Sizer suggests that geographic boundaries be obliterated, with public money following the student to the school of choice. This would allow parents the choice of sending their children to any school. If too many choose this particular school then a lottery would choose. This would encourage that all schools are helped. The fictional teacher, Horace, does not play a big role as in the previous two books. This book is mainly a celebration of Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools, which supports the growing number of schools embracing the group's nine goals. Sizer contends that communities need to come together. He provides real-life examples from observation about the delinquencies of our schools and teachers. Sizer wants our children doing the "higher learning", which is sometimes associated with college studies (although most colleges do not even go this far). This creative learning is not possible from most teachers because they were educated in the same system they now inhabit. Thus, the cycle perpetuates. Sizer himself illustrates education at its best, setting up arguments, marshalling evidence, and reaching a convincing conclusion. He says there is a slow change. This change is what gives Horace, and the teachers like him, hope. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in education of our children.My personal favorites on education are (in order): To Know as WE are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey by Parker Palmer & Beyond Discipline: From Conformity

There is "Hope" for the American High School.

Hope means expecting something desirable. Horace's Hope provides the reader with the hope for the achievement of excellence for all students enrolled in American public high schools. Sizer describes a caring, child-centered, rigorous academic setting which focuses on enabling all children to achieve excellence. Sizer asks those adopting the ideas based on his work with the Coalition of Essential Schools to develop "lofty" school goals which apply to all, and to recognize that the way each student achieves the goals will vary. In Horace's Hope, Sizer visits schools which had previously been studied in the 1980s. While the students and administration had changed, the culture of some of the schools had not. There is still room for hope in his relating of the findings. It is in the schools where the students and teachers have set high expectations and have created a learning culture which secures the achievement for each student.For all students to succeed Sizer suggests the following: an environment based on trust and high expectations, regular exhibitions of student work, longer class periods for instruction and learning exploration, smaller numbers of students assigned to enable the opportunity for teachers to work more closely with their students, budgetary support to provide the "human scale" teaching load, teachers as generalists first and specialists second so that the learning environment will reflect the connections between and among big ideas, and "caring rigor and rigorous caring", demand each child's best, but take into consideration all the child's needs not just the ones from the neck up. None of the ideas that Sizer suggests are new, and none appears controversial. While there are budgetary considerations that demand more resources, monetary considerations alone should not prevent good ideas from being implemented especially when it concerns our children. Implementation of Sizer's ideas provides the opportunity to create that learning culture to ensure each child's success. Her! ein lies the HOPE, the desired expectation that all children will achieve with excellence.

An examination of educational reform issues

In his latest book, Horace's Hope, Dr. Theodore Sizer once again examines the state of America's educational system through the eyes of Horace Smith, a fictitious veteran high school English teacher who reflects the struggle of educators today. The issues of improving education to better serve our students are brought to light through anecdotal visits to members of the Coalition of Essential Schools, an organization founded by Sizer. Member schools follow nine common principals in their reform process. These proven suggestions come from the efforts of schools across the country in their struggle to meet the needs of their students. The shift in educational practices must begin with putting the student at the center of the business of schools. To those outside of education, this sounds absurd. Aren't they the focus now? No, the "system" is the center. Decisions affecting policy and practices within classrooms are made by people who do not have to live with those decisions. Sizer correctly states that these critical decisions must be made by teachers and students for true transformation of the learning environment to occur. The centerpiece of Sizer's curriculum is the exhibition of student work rather than tests designed by textbook writers and teachers. Students need to be challenged with engaging work and high expectations from their teachers and the community at large. Deep thinking about issues rather than simple rote responses will bring the classroom alive for student and teacher alike. School reform will be deemed successful by the type of students we see graduating from our learning communities. Educators who are serious about examining the practices of their school and the central district system that supports it will have much to consider throughout Dr. Sizer's book. The effort to improve our schools is complicated and difficult, but it is not a lost cause - yet.