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the socialization role of the public school. Chapter five attempts to examine impli- cations of educational-psychology theories for social and political aspects of societal structure. Chapter six examines developments and change fostered in the school system by extra-system forces on value orientations of teachers and concomitant changes in the educational environment. Chapter eight examines “credentialing” of students in the context of linkage between the school and the society. Chapter nine focuses on the role of students and examines student involvement in the determination of goals, priorities and educational objectives of the school system, and chapter ten examines the range of alternatives available for change and innova- tion in the school system.

The readings present a diversity of viewpoints and orientations that forces the reader to make choices with regard to a perspective for analysis and a solution to the current problems. The model implicit in the book is based chiefly on the linkages between Intra-System elements. The choice of this model and the manner in which it is explicated constitute the greatest strength of this book.

This book does point out that to a great extent current problems in the school system probably are based on lack of “role consensus” on the role of the school system in our society. The role definitions used by categories of social actors involved are a t variance with one another. From the author’s viewpoint vertical integration of the school system, concentration of power, policy and decision- making in the hands of system elites is seen as the core of current problems and as such generates obstacles to much-needed change and innovation. In terms of innovation or change the recommended solution seems to be a greater involvement of the students or the “taught” in the educational process, especially in policy making and determination of educational objectives.

This book demonstrates amply the need for restructuring of the educational system. The chief strength of the book lies in the choice of material for inclusion so as to portray vividly the differing analytical perspectives in each context and the wide range of available strategies for change. The pedagogical value of this book is enhanced by concise introductions. However, the value of this stimulating approach and analysis would have been increased greatly had the author decided to include his own model of change. These minor shortcomings notwithstanding, this book is a welcome addition for use by students, teachers, administrators and parents.

GURMEET S. SEKHON Indiana State University Terre Haute

SCHWARTZ, B. N. Afiffirmative Education. Englewood Cliffs, N. J. : Prentice-Hall, 1972, 180 p., $2.45. This is a concisely edited book that develops in an analytic fashion a per-

spective that promotes educational reform. The book is well organized and leaves the reader little doubt about the author’s main assumptions and proscriptions. The book begins with the conclusions of the Carnegie Commission Report (1970) :

-schools are grossly ineffective and many, perhaps most, do more harm than good.

246 BOOK REVIEWS

-most schools are preoccupied with order, control, and routine for the sake of routine; students are essentially subjugated by the schools; by practicing systematic repression, the schools create many of their own problems.

It is the main assumption of the book that education needs “a new identity” or a “new way of being’’ within the educational environment, i .e . , affirmative education. In general terms, the old education is seen as social control (fitting people to society) and the new “affirmative education” is seen as liberating. The basis for affirmative education is %rap detecting” (Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner) or realizing that the traditional education teaches one to negate one’s own experience (R. D. Laing) and that high school graduates seem less intelligent than high school drop- outs (U. s. Office of Education, p. 44).

Affirmative education involves certain kinds of experiences, which include

1. students and teachers finding each other and learning emerging from mutual discovery ;

2. the content of learning not being the curriculum, the book, or the course contenbi t is the learning process itself;

3. discipline, course requirements, grades, and the like are all indications that the desireable educational experience may not be occurring ;

4. life experience, its use as a method to increase the degree of sophistication in problem-solving techniques ;

5. genuine encounter (emotional and intellectual) is the basis for a relation- ship between student and teacher.

Schwartz also includes a chapter on application of affirmative education, but this section seems to be his weakest, perhaps because only a limited number of docu- mented field studies are available. Certainly the author mentions the numerous structural obstacles that prevent such applications; e.g., the hierarchial teaching system, conservative colleagues, class size, and temporal limitations.

This book is mostly an analytic-logical argument for educational reforms via a redirection of the present educational system toward new ends. However, in the last 18 pages Schwartz presents two original articles by Ivan Illich and Robert Disch that reject the reformist position and advocate more drastic changes. Illich calls for the transformation of all societal institutions, and Disch calls for the total rejection of literacy as the basis of education. Schwartz refers to these last two “radical” articles as part of the final vision of affirmative education-but he is reluctant t o take a position on whether the reformist or radical approach will be more significant or whether they can be co-determinants in creating affirmative education. The book certainly fulfills its stated goals in a parsimonious fashion and can easily serve as a stimulant to further discussion and research.

(p. 109):

CHARLES NORMAN Indiana State University Terre Haute

KNOBLOCK, P. and GOLDSTEIN, A. P. The Lonely Teacher. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1971, 154 p., $3.95. (paperback) This was a difficult book to review. The title suggests that the content will

But, in fact, the focus on the interpersonal world of teaching and of teachers.