A Journalist's Education in the Classroom : The Challenge of School Reform

After an impressive career in journalism, David S. Awbrey became a middle-school social studies teacher. A Journalist's Education in the Classroom is an insightful and often humorous account of his experiences teaching medieval and Renaissance history. What Awbrey found should alarm all Americans: students obsessed with popular culture and disengaged from academics, teachers intellectually unprepared for twenty-first-century global society, and an educational establishment focused more on protecting its own power than on ensuring the next generation possesses the scholastic skills necessary to advance American democracy and prosperity. But Awbrey offers hope. Citing historical precedents, he examines how the rediscovery of classical learning preserved Western civilization and argues that America's future hinges on a similar restoration of the liberal arts to primacy in the nation's schools. Book jacket.