The Outlook for American Education

Résumé du livre

This is an important book to be read by any citizen who believes in life fulfill­ment through learning and the creative process.

Dr. George D. Stoddard, now Distin­guished Professor Emeritus, New York University, and formerly President of the University of the State of New York and of the University of Illinois, is a renowned and respected scholar, educator, and au­thor. Singly or in collaboration, he has written fifteen books. His concern for the human condition as it relates to educa­tion is amply reflected in his service out­side the American academic community.

In this latest, and perhaps penultimate, expression of his thought and study he brings into focus a wide range of educa­tional problems and processes, among them the self-contained classroom and the all-purpose teacher, the so-called open classroom and the year-round school, racial desegregation, performance contracts for teachers, the education of women, parochial and church-ruled schools and col­leges--literally dozens of present con­cerns of parents, educators, public offi­cials, teachers, and students. Some of his suggestions no doubt will not be popular--for example, his stand against the cur­rent pressures estranging church and state--but his is no jeremiad but, rather, a broad, humanistic appeal to reconsider the mission of the common school as the hallmark of a free society.

Recent significant trends such as the abandonment of pass-fail grading systems bring into relief what Dr. Stoddard has to say and underscore the urgency of his message. Dr. Stoddard's Outlook is cer­tain to provoke discussion for some time to come.