Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture

240 Pages·2009·1.09 MB·English

by  Kirsten Olson

Praise for Wounded by School . . .
“Whether you loved school or not, whether you blamed school or yourself for your
problems, you will think differently about school after reading Kirsten Olson’s compel-
ling book. Olson’s account of the wounds of school is unsparing, but it is also infused
with hope.”
—Howard Gardner, author of Five Minds for the Future
and Frames Of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences
“Kirsten Olson portrays the realities of modern schooling more vividly and convincing-
ly than anyone since the prophetic school critic John Holt. Policymakers, administrators,
and parents who have largely ignored the impassioned pleas of critics, home schoolers,
and alternative educators for the past 40 years need to read Wounded by School because
this time they’ll get it.”
—Ron Miller, Editor, Education Revolution magazine and author of
What Are Schools For? and Educational Freedom for a Democratic Society
“Kirsten Olson’s book is refreshingly unlike the run of sludge I associate with writing
about pedagogy. It seems to be entirely free of the familiar platitudes which replace
thought when we read about school matters, is scrubbed clean of pretentious jargon,
and offers up the twists and turns of Olson’s analysis and citations with beautiful clarity.
I can’t imagine anyone not being better for reading this book—Twice!”
—John Taylor Gatto, author of Dumbing Us Down,
The Underground History of American Education, and Weapons of Mass Instruction
“Too often educators, parents, and policymakers fail to listen to the voices of stu-
dents—the most important voices in our education system. In this powerful book,
Kirsten Olson beautifully depicts the stories of wounded students and shows us alter-
natives to the broken system that has infl icted the pain. She asserts that we can estab-
lish caring school communities, and that teachers, parents, and students themselves
can and should advocate for the changes necessary to make schooling more meaning-
ful, joyful, and engaging.”
—Denise Pope, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Stanford University School of Education
and author of Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of
Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students
“Wounded by School shines a bright light on an important but often ignored truth: that
the institution of school infl icts costly wounds on the well-being of all who enter. I invite
anyone invested in American pubic schools (and I hope that’s all of us) to read this book
and join hands in building schools that help every student, not only heal, but thrive.”
—Terry Chadsey, Co-Director,
Center for Courage & Renewal, Bainbridge Island, WA
“Why should you read this extremely illuminating book? If you are a student that is not
enjoying school, you will begin to learn why. If you are a teacher and feel frustrated by
the system, you will fi nd colleagues who are thinking about their work in new ways. If
you are a parent, you can learn how to keep your children intellectually and spiritually
safe in school. Shouldn’t the joy of learning, creativity and recognizing the differences
in students be more important then trying to push all students into one middle-of-the-
road mold and teaching for standardized testing? You will not be able to read Wounded
by School without agreeing that our educational system needs fi xing.”
—Jennifer Wagner, Examiner.com
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“Kirsten’s vivid narratives—of both wounding and healing—not only provide
the book with tremendous emotional power and urgency, they also provide the
structure within which its important recommendations can be both understood
and enacted. The result is a book that is not merely a technical repair manual for
our broken schools, it is a guide to how to revive their purpose, their spirit, and
their hope.”
—David H. Rose, Founding Director and Chief Education Offi cer, CAST,
Transforming Education Through Universal Design for Learning
“Olson’s book is fi lled with stories and anecdotes of people who had traumatic
school experiences. Some are still recovering from the pain, humiliation, self-doubt,
and outright trauma, while others have persevered. Olson pulls no punches when
she states that our current school system harms everyone—from burning out the
talented and gifted, to ignoring the ones in the middle, to alienating and ostraciz-
ing those with problems. If we continue to ignore these traumas, we will continue
to produce a workforce that is unprepared for the world and lose the potential of
hundreds of thousands of students who just give up.”
—Michelle at Master Musings, Mastermusingsbymichelle.blogspot.com
“Wounded by School provides evidence that the problems that we continue to
encounter in schools, such as student non-achievement, drop-out rates, student
discipline, unengaged parents, teaching quality—these things aren’t the problems
at all. They are the consequences of a deeper pervasive issue—a fundamental
problem that is our relationships with one another. That is the question this book
puts before us.”
—Deanna Burney, Superintendent,
LEAP Academy University Charter School, Camden, NJ
“Olson points to the urgent need for all of us to stand up and work together to
create more relevant, caring school systems that foster social-emotional, ethical,
civic and academic learning—towards promoting the development of competen-
cies and attributes demanded by our 21st-century world.”
—Deborah Donahue-Keegan, Visiting Professor, Wellesley College
“All teachers, especially of the younger grades, should be made to read this before
they ever enter a classroom.”
—Grace at Grace’s Book Blog, Bibliophile23.wordpress.com
“It takes compassion, patience, and dedication to create a school environment
committed to healing those wounds—a school where students feel valued and
empowered to uncover the joy in learning. No matter what challenges students
may face at home, on the streets, or in their communities, school should be the
one place that instills hope in the future. Olson calls on all of us to challenge the
institutional practices that harm our most precious resource—our children.”
—Cindy McMahon, Ph.D.,
Assistant Principal, Havermale High School, Spokane, WA
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Wounded
by School
Recapturing the Joy in Learning and
Standing Up to Old School Culture
KIRSTEN OLSON
Forewords by
SARA LAWRENCE-LIGHTFOOT
and PARKER J. PALMER
Teachers College, Columbia University
New York and London
Olson final proofs for reprint.indd 3 9/24/2014 6:35:14 PM
Published by Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY
10027
Copyright © 2009 by Kirsten Olson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the
publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Olson, Kirsten.
Wounded by school : recapturing the joy in learning and standing up to old
school culture / Kirsten Olson ; forewords by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot and
Parker J. Palmer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8077-4955-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8077-4956-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. School failure—United States—Case studies. 2. Learning,
Psychology of—Case studies. 3. Alienation (Social psychology)—
Case studies. 4. Problem children—Education—Case studies.
5. Motivation in education—United States—Case studies. I. Title.
LB1088.O47 2009
371.15’23—dc22 2008054811
ISBN 978-0-8077-4955-5 (paper)
ISBN 978-0-8077-4956-2 (cloth)
Printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
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Dedicated to
All the learners who bravely shared
their stories for this book.
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A Learner’s Bill of Rights
Every learner has the right to know why they are learning
something, why it is important now, or may be important to
them someday.
Every learner has the right to engage in questioning or
interrogating the idea of “importance” above.
Every learner has the right to be confused and to express this
confusion openly, honestly, and without shame.
Every learner has the right to multiple paths to understanding a
concept, an idea, a set of facts, or a series of constructs.
Every learner has a right to understand his or her own mind, brain
wiring, and intellectual inclinations as completely as possible.
Every learner has the right to interrogate and question the means
through which his or her learning is assessed.
Every learner is entitled to some privacy in their imagination and
thoughts.
Every learner has the right take their own imagining and thinking
seriously.
—Kirsten Olson, 2008
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Contents
Foreword by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot xi
Foreword by Parker J. Palmer xv
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction 1
Big Changes in the Educational Landscape 1
My Own Children Start School 2
Going Deeper 3
So Who Is This Book For? 7
PART I: BROKEN
1. What Are School Wounds? 11
“I Felt Sick in School” 11
“I Take It Offensive” 15
“I’m in the Middle” 17
The Wounded Parent:
“I Feel Helpless About Saving My Son” 19
The Wounded Adult: “School Is Not a Distant Mirror” 22
These Stories Are Emblematic 24
But Aren’t Schools Better Than They Were Before? 26
vii
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viii Contents
2. Kinds of Wounds 30
Learning as Pleasure 30
“Completely Filled with the Joy of Learning” 32
“But Please Don’t Tell People It Should Be Easy” 34
Wounds of Creativity 36
Wounds of Compliance 39
Wounds of Rebelliousness 42
Wounds That Numb 44
Wounds of Underestimation 45
Wounds of Perfectionism 50
Wounds of the Average 53
Commonalities 55
3. Why Do Schools Lacerate? 58
Outmoded Institutions: The Legacy of Rip Van Winkle 58
Old-Fashioned Ideas About Knowledge 60
New Skills and Attributes Demanded 63
Outmoded Ideas of Human Ability 64
From Teaching to Learning:
We Aren’t Good Diagnosticians 66
Schools Are Deliberately Designed to Sort and Track 68
Inculcating the “Hidden Curriculum” 70
New Ideas About Schools 72
PART II: HEALING
4. How Do People Heal? 79
“I Needed a String of Successes” 79
School Wounds Are Often Invisible 84
Cultural Denial 85
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Contents ix
“My Creativity Is a Large Part of My Intelligence” 89
“I Felt I Was Bad, Almost Morally Defective” 93
“You See What They Think
About You When You Act a Fool” 95
A Break in the Clouds 99
5. Stages of Healing 101
Profound Gifts Nearly Lost 101
The Blame Trap 103
Commonalities of the Healing Process 105
Exercises to Foster Healing 112
6. Wounded Schools 114
Schools Are Wounded 114
Learning to Change/Changing to Learn 117
Teaching Is a Complex Technical Job 119
A Teacher Prepares 121
New Research on Brains 124
Implications for Productive Learning Environments 127
Vital Variety of Learners 128
Schools of the Future: From Teaching to Learning 131
7. Parents Who Heal 133
School Is Diffi cult Terrain:
It Was “Educational Malpractice” 133
Parents’ Own Ghosts 137
No Bake Sale:
Schools Are Designed to Keep Parents Out 138
Parental Involvement Infl uenced by Class and Culture 140
Effort Versus Ability: “Look Smart, Don’t Look Dumb” 142
Demystifying Learning 146
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