The End of American Childhood: A History of Parenting from Life on the Frontier to the Managed Child
by Paula S. Fass, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 2016, 334 pp. with index, $29.95 hardcover

It is easy to forget that childhood in America is not an experience that exists in just our memory (or what we remember on television) or the observations we make today, whether of our own brood or the students that attend our schools. Paula Fass’s book The End of American Childhood examines how America has viewed childhood over the centuries, from its inception as a nation to its current state.

The author looks not only at the changes that have occurred in childhood over the history of our country, but also the role of parenting and how that has changed.

One of the more significant insights that Fass reveals is the emerging role of motherhood. As our civilization has progressed, mothers have subsumed the role that fathers once held. With the maternal role taking control in childrearing, an emphasis was placed on nurturing children and drawing influence from the new science of child development, especially in the case of Benjamin Spock.

Another key insight that Fass explores is the changing role of public education as it pertained to childhood and later adolescence. When the shift of America as a world power emerged in the 20th century, along with a burgeoning immigrant population, the high school was seen as a way to prepare adolescents for the new order. In fact, the author points out, by mid-century, adolescence and high school were inexorably linked. With the close of the 20th century, high schools were not universally seen as a way for assimilation and a path to future success. As parents and children enter the 21st century, the relationship between the two roles and how or what role education remains to be seen.  Fass reminds us that growing up in this country is as much dependent on a family’s socioeconomic status as it is the generation they occupy.

The value of this lesson in history is that we, as educators, need to remember that childhood and parenting in this country has, and will, continue to change.

Reviewed by Marc Space, superintendent, Grants/Cibola County Schools, Grants, N.M. 


Humanizing the Education Machine: How to Create Schools That Turn Disengaged Kids Into Inspired Learners
by Rex Miller, Bill Latham and Brian Cahill, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, N.J., 2017, 300 pp. with index, $32 hardcover 

Rex Miller, Bill Latham and Brian Cahill are consultants who work in the private sector. Together, they have written a book that is difficult to read. They present a large amount of material poorly organized into a coherent theme. Its 300 pages could easily have been reduced to 125.

The basic theme of Humanizing the Education Machine is that the Education Machine (public education) is in a "genuine and panoramic crisis." All efforts to reform it have failed. The urgent need is to humanize public schools. The authors present a series of principles that, if established, would create schools that inspire students, such as "Learning requires people who care" and "kids need to be active during the day." 

Like many other efforts to reform our schools, a long set of basic, well-known principles are not sufficient to humanize them. Examples presented of where efforts have been made require extremely outstanding teachers and external funding, both of which are in short supply.

The book would have been more useful if it had discussed strategies for increasing the supply of "outstanding" teachers and strategies for creating "adequacy of funding" for public education.

Reviewed by M. Donald Thomas, consultant, Public Education Support Group, South Salt Lake City, Utah


Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Change
by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, 2017, Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, Mass., 252 pp. with index, $35 hardcover

School leadership is increasingly complex. It requires unique skills in finding the balance between competing interests, community-based traditions and new expectations and demands. Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, well-established teachers and organizational consultants from Harvard University, have updated their 2002 book Leadership on the Line to reflect the continuing development of their learning and practice. 

With a new preface and updated chapter content. The 2017 update of Leadership on the Line provides practical guidance that will help school leaders navigate rapidly changing conditions.

Heifetz and Linsky center their work on one essential competency: adaptability. To undertake sustainable leadership that transforms schools (and any organization) requires “…a healthy respect for the values, competence, and history of people, as well as the changing environment… .” 

By carefully documenting, with diverse examples, both successful and unsuccessful change initiatives, Leadership on the Line outlines key conditions leadership can apply to protect themselves and their people as they drive transformations that change conventional practices.

Perhaps the most unique counsel provided in Leadership on the Line is “going to the balcony,” a metaphor based on an image of “stepping back in the midst of action and asking, ‘What’s really going on here?’” Finding ways to rise above the fray and observe events provides leaders with valuable insight and access to wisdom. Leadership that combines political sensitivity, orchestrating productive conflict and empowering the right people in the correct places to do the work significantly increases the probability that adaptive work will be sustained.

Heifetz and Linsky end their book with an emphasis on keeping a “sacred heart.” They outline the importance of risking to lead in ways that retain the leader’s innocence, curiosity and compassion. They note that the sacred heart is “about the courage to feel everything” and “the capacity to hold it all without letting go of your work.” 

School leaders facing daunting challenges to address significant community challenges will find nourishment in this updated version of Leadership on the Line. It is a vital source of counsel and well-proven organizational leadership wisdom that will help educational leaders thrive and survive to lead another day.

Reviewed by Brian L. Benzel, a retired superintendent and adjunct professor at Whitworth University, Spokane, Wash.
 

Why I Wrote this Book ...


“If we know the most important factor in a student’s education is the quality of the teacher, how can we support teachers to become experts in their field? This question was the driving force in writing the book. Traditional teacher evaluation systems aren’t about developing expertise, they are about proving competence. … The focus has long been on how to make teacher evaluation manageable instead of how to make it meaningful. It’s time for a change.”

Paul W. Mielke, superintendent, Hamilton School District, Sussex, Wis., and AASA member since 2016, on co-authoring Making Teachers Better, Not Bitter: Balancing Evaluation, Supervision, and Reflection for Professional Growth (ASCD, 2016)