Learning Unleashed

Re-Imagining and Re-Purposing Our Schools

Evonne E. Rogers

Children enter the world curiously hard-wired for creativity and imagination. After a few short years of school, something drastically changes for them. Why? There is an unmistakable and deliberate attempt to control the learning of young people who find themselves sitting in our schools. The industrial model of schooling has taken its toll and victims without remorse. It programs curious young minds to become helpless, dependent, and compliant. It is manipulation and malpractice, but few seem to notice or care.

After years of observing and participating in some of these questionable practices herself, Evonne decided it was time to tell the truth about schools. With a credible and strong voice, Evonne tackles the “sacred school rituals” that are rarely questioned and widely accepted as normal. She transparently leads the reader through firmly-held and often faulty assumptions about schooling practices. She offers common sense solutions that challenge us to re-imagine how we do school in this country. With strong conviction, passion, and a call to action, she encourages us to hear and listen to the voices of our children who are crying out for the freedom to learn.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 152 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9⅜

978-1-4758-2919-8 • Hardback • August 2016 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

978-1-4758-2920-4 • Paperback • August 2016 • $27.00 • (£20.95)

978-1-4758-2921-1 • eBook • August 2016 • $25.50 • (£19.95)

Subjects: Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Education / Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects, Education / Professional Development

Learning Unleashed

Re-Imagining and Re-Purposing Our Schools

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Children enter the world curiously hard-wired for creativity and imagination. After a few short years of school, something drastically changes for them. Why? There is an unmistakable and deliberate attempt to control the learning of young people who find themselves sitting in our schools. The industrial model of schooling has taken its toll and victims without remorse. It programs curious young minds to become helpless, dependent, and compliant. It is manipulation and malpractice, but few seem to notice or care.

After years of observing and participating in some of these questionable practices herself, Evonne decided it was time to tell the truth about schools. With a credible and strong voice, Evonne tackles the “sacred school rituals” that are rarely questioned and widely accepted as normal. She transparently leads the reader through firmly-held and often faulty assumptions about schooling practices. She offers common sense solutions that challenge us to re-imagine how we do school in this country. With strong conviction, passion, and a call to action, she encourages us to hear and listen to the voices of our children who are crying out for the freedom to learn.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 152 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9⅜

978-1-4758-2919-8 • Hardback • August 2016 • $53.00 • (£41.00)

978-1-4758-2920-4 • Paperback • August 2016 • $27.00 • (£20.95)

978-1-4758-2921-1 • eBook • August 2016 • $25.50 • (£19.95)

Subjects: Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Education / Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects, Education / Professional Development

Author

Evonne Espey Rogers has served as an educator in three states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, and California. Having spent her entire life in and around schools, she cares deeply about teaching and learning. Visit her online: www.evonnerogers.net | www.facebook.com/Schools4Learning.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter One: “Home” School
Chapter Two: The Kindergarten Experiment
Chapter Three: Eight Years of This?
Chapter Four: Neighborhoods – A Lost Oasis
Chapter Five: School DAZE
Chapter Six: Schools of Education
Chapter Seven: Leadership Lessons
Chapter Eight: Exposing the Truth
Chapter Nine: Voices from the Field
Chapter Ten: Out of the Box
Chapter Eleven: Ten “UN” commandments (Part 1)
Chapter Twelve: Ten “UN” commandments (Part 2)
Chapter Thirteen: The Recovery Process
Conclusion: Finding Our Moral Compass
Bibliography
About the Author
Index

Reviews

Evonne Espey Rogers has penned a thoughtful, very personal, and highly readable book that provides a broad critique of American schooling and an energetic call for change. She calls out the bureaucracy and stale hierarchies that stifle learning today and advocates a new paradigm that emphasizes choices, options, individualization, and grassroots participation. Rogers has delivered a timely and provocative volume.
— Frederick Hess, author of Letters to a Young Education Reformer; director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute

This book is unlike many other critiques of the education system because it dares to go into detail about the day to day experiences that children have in school. It is clearly a critique from someone who has been an insider and who knows why and how things must change.
— Jerry Mintz, director, Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO)

Evonne Rogers is a major league player in the field of education. From teacher to leadership administrative positions in major school districts, she has served all with great distinction and applause. When she states, “Schooling is what is done to us – becoming educated is something we do ourselves,” should tip off the reader that they have just begun reading a gold mine clarifying the educational process.
— Les Nuckolls, author, Fulbright Scholar, retired school principal and former superintendent, U.S. Peace Corps Teacher Training Centers Worldwide

As one who has also worked in the educational field all of my life, I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing out loud while reading this book. Learning Unleashed rings importantly true on many levels.
— Charles Jones, retired school district superintendent

Learning Unleashed

Re-Imagining and Re-Purposing Our Schools

Evonne E. Rogers

Learning Unleashed

Re-Imagining and Re-Purposing Our Schools

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