The Spirit Of Education by Jeff White

What is education? It's a term we use every day to describe the process of putting 25 or 30 young souls into a cinder block room and filling their heads with what-all over the course of the first quarter of their lives. But is that education? If it's not, what is it? And what are its consequences? The word "education" comes to us from the Latin educere, which means "to lead out" or "to draw out." What we do in schools, when we attempt to add cumulative layers to children's bank of knowledge, has little to do with this drawing out; one might go so far as to think that it is its antithesis. Education—true education—is not a process of pouring in from without, but of calling forth what is within. It's not a process of memorization or socialization or instillation, it's a process of nurturing, of allowing, of evoking. It's a process of bringing forth the person one is meant to be. This, of course, is a lifelong project. "The Spirit of Education" attempts to begin anew our conversations about this thing called education. It suggests that we start not with what students ought to know, but what humans are. It suggests that learning isn't something that happens to children in specialized buildings at the hands of experts, but something that is hardwired into the human animal, an essential goad to our personal and collective evolution. "The Spirit of Education" isn't just about schools. Rather, it's about learning. Deep learning. Real learning. It suggests that our primary job on the planet is learning: learning the depths of who we are, and learning how to realize (learning how to make real) the best that is within us. Jeff White has written a provocative and solidly-argued analysis of the educational system in the United States. His thinking is based on his own experience as an educator, but he seeks to transcend the narrow bounds of much of the current talk of the 'crisis in education.' We should have a wide-ranging discussion of the premises and future of education in America, and Jeff White's should be a voice in that conversation. --Glenn Perusek, author, Shifting Terrain: Essays on Politics, History and Society (New York: Peter Lang, 2006). Bravo Jeff! Bravo! I truly admire your accomplishment and respect your work, just as I would any fine craftsman, artist, scholar and teacher. I want you to know that I really value my personal experience reading this book. I doubt that you would have predicted that your book would be used for personal and professional development of a capitalist, CEO type, but it was in my case...[A] good book at my house is when my wife or I say to other, "Listen to this;" your book passed that test. --Myron Marsh, President and CEO, Thomson-Shore Inc.