Kieran Egan, Yale University Press
September 2002
Canadian educationist Kieran Egan authored this provocative new book. For once, the dust jacket does a competent job of summarizing its essence: the book "traces the nineteenth century sources of many of our notions about education...shows how progressivist ideas have been responsible for the general ineffectiveness of our schools, and...assails the central progressive belief that to educate children effectively it is vital to attend to the nature of the child, particularly the child's mode of learning and stage of development." It's a worthy volume. One wonders, though, why Egan fails to mention those who have plowed this ground before, often with greater depth and insight, analysts such as E.D. Hirsch, Arthur Bestor and Diane Ravitch. Should you want a copy, the ISBN is 0300094337, the publisher is Yale University Press and you can get more information at http://www.yale.edu/yup/books/094337.htm.
