This book is already attempting to cover a lot of ground! The book opens with a preface that outlines Larry Cuban’s personal motivation behind the book and acts as a roadmap for what the upcoming chapters intend to tackle. He seems to be unbiased in his end goal and offers some slight foreshadowing of the book’s wide swath of subjects when he admits that “teaching is a knotty, entangled, and complicated endeavor.” I think we can all agree on that.
While I think 95 pages is likely too short to attempt to tackle providing a history of education in the United States, this is kind of how the book starts in Chapter 1. Small paragraphs cover big eras in history. As a person without much preexisting knowledge in this regard, it feels like a lot is probably left out. What is included is interesting, to say the least. Aside from history, there is also an emphasis on defining a few teaching methods that vary between teacher focus and student focused instruction.
The timing of reading Chapter 2 of this book perfectly coincided with a conversation I had with some friends who are deciding on a school for their twins who will be entering kindergarten next year. While I just assumed most kids just went to their local school districts, I was pretty surprised to learn that school shopping can mean more than just buying new clothes and school supplies. It can mean getting interviewed at various schools, paying tuition, etc.
This chapter contains many interesting insights into parts of education that have changes vs. stayed the same or remained “stable,” some obvious and other not so obvious. Two points stuck out to me and prompted further thought:
- Teacher qualification: Cuban explains that historically, teachers were not required to have any particular training or skills. That has evolved, and standards for teachers have increased steadily over the decades, now requiring an undergraduate degree with subject specialties along with state licenses.
- However, recently, it seems that teacher shortages may be causing this to regress. In Ohio, for example, there is a new “1-Year Multi-Age (P-12) Temporary Non-Bachelor’s Substitute Teaching License available for candidates who do not hold a post-secondary degree but meet the employing school or district’s set of educational requirements to serve in the role of a substitute teacher.”
- Male teachers: Cuban explains that most teachers are female and provides some possible suggestions why.
- This made me think about about lack of male nurses as well. Down the Google rabbit hole I went looking for examples of what healthcare does to market to, encourage, and support male nurses.
- In his blog about gender and sexual inequality and social spaces, Tristan Bridges provides a very interesting read about nursing campaigns targeted at men and some general insights into female dominated care professions.
One final observation I made in the book is that Cuban makes a couple of large comparisons that imply connections not backed by evidence. First, he links the fact that the large majority of teachers are female to racial segregation in schools. Second, he describes the shift from a more formal culture in our country’s past to more informal in current trends and compares that a more lacks style of child rearing. While I think Cuban is simply making loose comparisons in these cases, they come across as bold, unsubstantiated claims. If he is in fact suggesting a connection, more evidence is necessary. Otherwise, keep in mind that correlation does not necessarily equal causation.
Other random thoughts
- There are so many interesting references used so far that many of the books and articles in the Notes are highlighted to be added to my To-Read list. They cover a wide range of decades and subject matter. I definitely appreciate how recently this book has been published, as many of the references are current.
- Speaking of references, I thought Wikipedia should not be used as a resource. I was surprised to see its use a couple of times in the Notes references. I can see that being acceptable in his blog, but I feel like a book of this type is viewed a bit more scholarly.
- Larry Cuban uses public domain photos throughout the book. Use of resources, especially those in the public domain, is almost a necessary skill to acquire for educators, yet many are not well versed in what resources they can use and when. I just want to create this note as a reminder that it might be a good idea for me to create a how-to demo video of using public domain to share in this blog.
Check Back
This is just the beginning of the book. Check back here often for more of my thoughts as I post observations, notable quotes, reviews, questions, etc throughout the rest of my reading.