Don Glines has distilled 50 years of his forward thinking and practice into this profoundly important book. He finds that research supports radically different schools. In fact, the word “school” carries the baggage of obsolete beliefs and automatically sets us on the wrong path of trying to fix it. Start with learning, a natural human trait, to design optimal conditions rather than just repairing what we have. Glines sears that point extraordinarily. Start the war!
Wayne B. Jennings, PhD, director, International Association for Learning Alternatives Don Glines has been around long enough to know from personal experience that there will be no significant improvement in the nation’s schools as long as policy is being shaped by leaders of business and industry, politicians, syndicated columnists, school boards, and other amateurs. They’re products of “the system,” so bring to the issues the conventional wisdom—the same conventional wisdom that has brought the institution to crisis. At the core of that crisis is failure to recognize the obvious, that no two learners are alike. Glines maintains that on this fact all working educators agree, an agreement sufficient to justify direct, forceful confrontation—including acceptance of the probable necessity for acts of civil disobedience—to counter the simplistic, destructive thrust of current education policies.
Marion Brady, author of What’s Worth Learning, and op-ed education columnist, Washington Post The Industrial-Age paradigm that controls teaching and learning in America’s schools and school systems has outlived its usefulness. Systems designed to comply with the paradigmatic rules do and always leave children behind. The systems are perfectly designed to get the results they are getting. Applying principles of continuous improvement to maintain the old paradigm will never create the kinds of breakthrough performance that is required to provide our children and grandchildren with the quality education they need and deserve. A new paradigm to guide teaching and learning is required—one built on principles of personalized, learner-centered education. Don Glines’ book offers a powerful and compelling argument to transform the education system and its component school systems to comply with principles of personalized learning.
Francis M. Duffy Declaring War Against Schooling brilliantly and boldly demands that control of education be directed by the will of the learner. Dr. Glines challenges the naïve arrogance of today’s decision-makers. He affirms what we have known from the beginning: no matter the mandates, the policies, the high-stakes, or the power grabs, the individual always holds the key to personal development. As educators, parents, leaders, and citizens, we have the choice to create multiple pathways to learning. The most important question asked in these timely pages is whether our children will have the option of one door, or one hundred.
Angela Engel, author of Seeds of Tomorrow: Solutions for Improving our Children’s Education and director, Uniting4Kids