TOW #20 Doing School by Denise Clark Pope

The students of today spend their time panicking, procrastinating, and pressured, (the three P’s, if you will). The main question that Denise Clark Pope tries to answer, is “why?”. Why are students so inclined to cheat and lie their way through, only to find that they don’t understand the material? Why are they spending their time complaining about it rather than being proactive? Why are they so stressed in the frist place. Pope’s book, “Doing School: How We are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic and Miseducated Students” serves to answer these questions, and provide some explanation for the stressed out student generation.

Although most likely directed at a teacher driven audience, the book is versatile in that it can appeal to anyone. Who doesn’t love a good explanation? This book can appeal to students,parents, even grandparents. This is due, in part, to the use of relatable language. In addition, the use of examples is also at play. 

Real life examples allow a deeper understanding of both the school systems and their effect on the students.The book starts off with one example from Faircrest High, discussing several teachers idea of the perfect student. One teacher even claimed that if she had a son, she would want him to be just like one of her students. All of these students had incredibly high grades, were well rounded, and involved in ridiculous amounts of extra-curricular activities. These students are doing the same thing as hundreds of thousands of students all over the country, and most likely worldwide. However, these students are an exception. Most students find themselves doing these same things because they are feeling pressure to compete with these “exceptional” students. This causes unimaginable stress for the students, who as the book quotes, “ go to get good grades which brings them to college, which brings them high paying jobs, which brings them happiness.” The various examples in the book serve to show the stress that students feel to succeed. It feels as if their whole life is riding on their high school career. 

This book allows personal insight that is invaluable to everyone. It shows the flaws in our current school system and provides insight for improving it. In addition, it lets people know that they aren’t alone, many other people are struggling and stressed. It’s a call for understanding at heart.