Successful Failure: The School America BuildsIn this controversial work, Herv Varenne and Ray McDermott explore education as cultural phenomenona construct of artifice and reality we impose upon ourselves. Questioning how the American education system defines and measures success and failure, Successful Failure is a must-read for anyone interested in educational reform, the American educational system, and the anthropology of education. }In this controversial work, Herv Varenne and Ray McDermott explore education as cultural phenomenona construct of artifice and reality we impose upon ourselves. The authors discuss in five case studies how the American education system defines and measures success and failure, why there is polarization between suburban schools and urban schools, and what about our system leads us to focus on the negative. Their exploration focuses not on the people or the activities of the system, but on the institutions themselves: who decided what was a success or failure? How was the identification done, and with what consequences?This important and timely book is a must-read for anyone interested in educational reform, the American educational system, and the anthropology of education. |
Contents
The Cultural Construction of a Learning | |
Literacies in Action Hervé Vtzrenne and | |
The Eye Ointment Scene | |
Variations in the Doing of School at Home | |
The Voice of the Choir the Voices in the Choir Hervé varenne and Merry Naddeo | |
Joint Action on the Wild Side of Manhattan Hervé varenne and Rosemarie Rizzo | |
A Teachers Task for Her Students | |
Disability as a Cultural Fact Hervé varenne and Ray McDermott | |
7Ways with Theoretical Words Hervé varenne and Ray McDermott | |
Local Constructions of Educational Facts Hervé varenne | |
Beyond Explaining Why Hervé varenne and Ray McDermott | |
Appendix | |
Appendix C | |
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action activity actors Adam Adam's adult African Americans Allwin American analysis answer anthropologists asked banana bread behavior chapter child choir classroom commonsense competition complex consequential constructed context conversation cultural fact culture of poverty discussion emphasize enculturation ethnographic ethnomethodology evaluation eventually everyday Farrells focus focusing Hamden Heights happened High School homeless homework human identified ideological individual institutions interaction involved John Dewey kids Kinneys label Learning Disabled literacy lives look Manhattan Valley Margaret Mead Martha's Vineyard Maxine Hong Kingston McDermott move Naddeo Ogbu organized parents participants particular pattern performed person political position poverty problem produce psychological questions reconstructed rehearsal resistance Rizzo-Tolk Rosa Ruth Benedict scene sense sequence Sheila singing social specific structure success and failure talk task teacher tests theories things transformed understanding various wall West Side High York City