Dewey, a profound contributor to the field of education, displays some of his beliefs of the best methods to teach children in The Child and the Curriculum. To begin Dewey's discussion, the child's world is examined. In this examining, a sense of how the child's world operates is formed. Children learn through the process of experiencing things, life. In this book Dewey, finds that the schools in which children are educated contradict their very learning style by nature. "The child's life is an integral, a total one," (p.183, 1902). The way the school disseminates the curriculum is not the most optimal method for students to learn.
A child's life collects all the experiences, thus the child learns. Dewey postulates a change in the formula for teaching children, the curriculum. Why change the curriculum? As Dewey states, children need to be intertwined in the process of doing. Children will learn by doing, making clothes to wear, furniture to sit on, and growing food to eat. The idea of the separate subject area is a key area Dewey analyzes because of how children learn. When a child wants to build a chair to sit on, they examine disciplines across the realm of mathematics, science, and language skills while building the chair. Instead of separating this activity into different disciplines, it is woven throughout the activity. Throughout this book, it is stated that their needs to be a link to what the child is learning and what the child sees as a benefit to themselves.
As an educator, it is important to be exposed to varying ideas as to how the school systems have functioned and are functioning today. There are ideas in this book that a pre-service or current educator should consider during their teaching career. Are Dewey's ideas relevant for today's society? I believe this is a question one has to answer for themselves, construct your own meaning.

From a high school student's point of view, reading Dewey couldn't provide something else than hope for educational systems, most of which, despite the efforts of making a school a more living atmosphere, organizations still remain too mechanical in learning procedures and detached from social applications regarding the capabilities they serve.

Originally from Cameroon, I've had the opportunity to explore three educational systems from different cultural influence each. It was an advantage that surely opened my mind to different perspectives by interacting with different cultures in different social contexts, but especially carried me out to realize how the so called "education" - in general, but in high school in particular - shortly addresses fundamental needs as much individually as socialy, since people tend to ignore its essential functions or misunderstand the concepts it involves, precisely because their implications are so general that they shouldn't be analyzed in separated contexts, school and society, as far as they are, with respect, one a component of the other but the other being the expression of the first one in a long term.

By observing both components as a whole, Dewey proposes a model that doesn't necessarily apply to actual issues or give factual solutions, but at least redefines "education" by integrating inherent aspects to human nature in its double acception - as a group as much as an individual -, which reveals the values traditional education still mostly hides.

I delibarately took the initiative of question what high school didn't explained to me, and probably often forget to ask itself. In what ways education serves people in the aim of blooming personally and socially ? which role schools are therefore supposed to play and in which patterns ? The questions are so simple that the answers appear obvious. In fact, they should be when the problematic is carefully put. this is the reason most people can get it wrong and sometimes don't even try to question what is already established. Dewey was an excellent starting point for my research and I recommend it to EVERYONE, not especially those concerned with education because it shouldn't be a matter of a restricted segment of people. Education is everywhere. Sorry for my english :)

Priests and pedophilia is a subject not easily discussed without arousing deep emotional reactions. Phillip Jenkins, however, has taken an objective scholastic approach that backs each assertion with stong quotations and clear logical arguements. He shows how a national history of anti-catholicism, a sensationalistic-hungry mass media, a changing legal environnment, new definitions of 'sex-abuse', and a factional struggle for change within the Roman Church, all set the stage for what inevitably became the 'clergy-abuse crisis'. He offers much new insight and a good bibliography. I think at times however, he overestimates the power of the laity, and democracy; and underscores the 'Divine' origin and mission of the Roman Church. The book also lacked what I had hoped for by way of statistics. I would still recommend this book for anyone interested in catholic apologetics, or anyone just looking for a more scholarly diagnosis of the 'pedophile/priest crisis'.

Jenkins has written by far the most balanced analysis of sexual abuse by Catholic priests by placing the topic within its cultural and historical context. In so doing presents a devestating critique of the media's coverage of, and role in, constructing the "crisis" in the Church. This book is must reading for anyone trying to place the current crisis in a broader perspective based on actual data and sound balenced analysis. An eye opening book which reveals much about the current state of Catholicism and of our culture in general.

Philip Jenkins has written a first-rate book, not just about the "moral panic" over "pedophile priests", but about our tendency as a society to seek simplistic answers for complex social problems. Jenkins argues persuasively, on the basis of extensive evidence, that the portrayal of the Catholic Church as a haven for pedophiles is just the latest version of the anti-Catholic stereotype which dates back at least as far as the Reformation. The scapegoating of the Catholic Church is also facilitated, as Jenkins points out, by the bureaucratic tradition of the Curia: keeping centralized records of abuse allegations makes a Catholic diocese an easy target for litigation, in a way which a dispersed Protestant denomination can never be.

Highly recommended. Very clear, accessible, and thoroughly researched.

On Camera gives kids a good overview of what it is like to be a child actor. It is written simply enough so that young kids can read it on their own and know that another kid somewhere is experiencing the same things they are. A great little gift for the child actor in your life.

I have already reviewed this book, and explained that there is only blame for the parents and important adults in the child's life for being shy. Many, many people have emailed me, requesting more information about what other explanations there could be, because their children are not shy due to their environment of happy loving families. So this is an update to my original review.

The book does not mention any treatable organic causes for apparent shyness in children, including but not limited to anxiety disorder, social phobia, and Asperger's Syndrome. None of these issues are discussed at all. This is a serious and inexcusable omission. All of them are treatable and controllable by medication and therapy. It seriously angers me that this book does nothing to address these concerns.

I thought this book provided a pretty simplistic view of shyness and its causes. It touched on medical theory and evidence, but didn't go into much detail. Some of the hypothetical examples given were a bit one-dimensional. The remedies were basic and not terribly creative. Still, there were a couple of good ideas, but it wasn't word reading through the whole book for them. Also, my child didn't really fit the archetypal profile that the authors outline, making the book less relevant or "custom fitted" for our particular child.

I found much of this book to be very helpful, with some great tips on helping the shy child. My child is on the very extreme end of being shy, with some SID to make matters worse. Even so, I thought this book had enough helpful items to make the purchase worthwhile. I'd also like to say something about another reviewer's comment that the book doesn't mention Asperger's Syndrome. This reviewer thought it was a serious ommission on the author's part not to mention AS. However, in the author's defense, I think it should be noted that this book was originally written in 1982, well before most people/professionals became aware that there even was such as thing as Aspgerger's Syndrome. That didn't happen until the 1990's, ten years after this book was written.

Although I have not yet used cog-B interventions when working with children or adolescents, I was ready to be "wowed" by the information put forth by this book. However, the information that was conveyed was very disappointing. In the sections that dealt with externalizing and internalizing disorders, the gist of the information that was presented was that while cog-B tools often have the potential to be helpful, the research has not resulted in very inconsistent results. Therefore, the research puts into question both the efficacy of cog-B and point of using cog-B in the first place. Another fault of this book is that the chapter authors often point out aspects that are important to take into consideration such as the influence of developmental milestones and the family on a child, but then they fail to elaborate on these aspects.

As a foster parent of almost three years, this book had little new information for me. But it might be helpful to a prospective foster parent.

The content is superficial. (But what do you expect in 99 pp.?) The chapters on the licensing process, children's responses to foster care according to age/developmental stage, and foster parents' expectations are adequate introductions. "Working with Systems" (interfaces with agencies and other groups) says little that couldn't have been grasped through common sense. "Preparing [for the placement]," Emotional [Issues]", and "Dealing With Special Problems" are simplistic and suggest the average foster child will respond fairly quickly to firm limits and responses guided by attempts at understanding a child's behavior. For example, "Saying things such as, 'I'm glad to have you in our family,' or, 'You reallly do that great,' can counteract feelingsly of inadequacy." Perhaps, but the child who truly feels inadequate is probably going to act out that inadequacy for some time (and in very dysfunctional ways). Stahl writes, "As long as foster parents remember that their job is to provide a corrective experience.. and not to undo the effects of the child's history of abuse and neglect, they can do a more satisfying job and have more confidence in their parenting ability." That may be true in very temporary placements, but the longer you have a child in your home, the more invested you become in helping him or her heal.

In his closing chapter, Stahl indicates that recruiting more foster homes-- enough for every child who needs one-- willl help "guarantee the quality and quantity of service for the foster child in need." Personally, rather than recruiting others, I'd prefer to spend my time supporting foster care alternatives and preventatives (so that fewer children are removed from their homes) and working to increase supports to foster parents and services to foster children in currently-licensed homes.

Stahl writes like a consultant (which he is) rather than someone who's actually "been there," by opening his home to foster kids. This book is quick and easy to read, but I am much more enthusiastic about the work of Dr. Richard Delaney, and Vera Fahlberg's "A Child's Journey Through Placement."