the Book
Mr. Sage (first author of Trojan Horse in the Classroom) is veteran educator (over a decade as a regular elementary teacher) who has spent the past several years as a full-time substitute at a high school. He and the second author, Sharon (who is also author of this website) have embarked on an exposure of education—its myths, its sham, and its incredible hold on the public which cannot conceive of life without schooling.
The book, Trojan Horse in the Classroom, uses a series of vignettes of daily life in a high school, which vignettes are transmitted for the most part as they are occurring: The substitute teacher, Mr. Sage, uses available interstices in his day to send email messages to the second author (Sharon) in which he describes the goings-on in the classroom of the day. He has collected artifacts (student writing, instructions left for him by the regular teacher, etc.) He also interviews students using a recorder. The interviews frequently ask students why they come to school or why they want to graduate. Their answers typically take the form of "To get a better job;" "My parents will kill me if I don't graduate." Mr. Sage has good rapport with the students, and, of course, enjoys a special role as someone in the system but not really of that system. His role also provides a more intimate view of school administration, the goals of counselors and the frustrations of teaching staff. He has documented several cases of being asked to drag kids over the diploma finish line for the sole purpose of maintaining the required/desired graduation numbers for the school.
There is a background to this exposure of the details of what is going on in schools and classrooms. Most people do not know about these details, and certainly would not deconstruct their meaning in the larger context of what they believe schools do. In fact, the general public is strikingly committed to "education" to the extent that it seems to be inviolate—almost sacrosanct: It can be criticized in some of its details ("teacher quality," "funding," etc.) but not as to its fundamental existence. I have led individuals and groups (for example, on discussion boards) right up to admitting that compulsory schooling is necessary if only to keep hoards of teenagers off the streets during the day, or to provide free childcare. But no suggestion that schooling as we know it should simply go away can be abided. This in spite of general agreement (and clear evidence) that vast numbers of high school graduates cannot read or write intelligibly, or that, conversely, there are many examples of accomplished and successful individuals who have been homeschooled or left their public schooling well before graduating. (An account of one such individual is provided here.)
The alternative to not doing school seems ungraspable: the benefits, as mentioned above, seem to override any recognition of the need to account for the contradictions between the deeply ingrained belief in education and the facts of what takes place on a daily basis in schools. Education is an enormous industry. Further, there are many stakeholders—the most important of which should be the students themselves. But the students are at the bottom (just below the teachers) of this weighty list of political, commercial and institutional stakeholders, and the group whose “stake” in school is the most likely to be ignored. Because of the structure of compulsory schooling—of the educational setting itself—young people are trained to be passive, and by the time most students have reached the age of 12, cannot even conceive of the idea of educating themselves or actively seeking knowledge or expertise. While adults all around them exhort students to “be responsible” or to take their schooling seriously, responsibility for their education is in fact denied them. Questioning or critically appraising their classroom activities will be met with verbal repudiation from the teacher, detention or expulsion. Yet when you speak with adults (current parents of students as well as those who no longer have children in school), no attack on this industry is abided.
The problem we, the authors of this book, have before us is this: How to promote a book the subject of which almost no one wants to acknowledge? What do you think? Your thoughts and suggestions are welcome. Use the Feedback link.
