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Quality Schools
by William Glasser
Product Group: Book
Publisher: HarperCollins (1990-03)
ISBN: 0060965134
EAN: 9780060965136
Paperback: 171 pages
SKU: BX028-20X
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Clean and shiny. Light wear. Spine uncreased, pgs crisp, clean, tight, unmarked. No remainder mark.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
"This should be required reading by every school administator, every teacher, every board member and all university faculty involved in the training of teachers. There is no doubt that we need to squeeze all blame, all coerion and all criticism out of any people-related business. Not until we realize that schools are in a people business will we ever be able to make meaningful changes."
--Dr. Albert Mamary, former superintendent of schools, Johnson City, New York
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Customer Reviews
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Great On Paper, In Practice, It's Something Else...
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-08-15
Have you been in a school where Dr. Glasser's "Quality School" has been implemented? Here were some of the practices of one school that used Glasser's philosophy:
1. Students who misbehaved in class were allowed to calm down with a five-minute walk; or they were sent to their homeroom advisor or a teacher the student trusted.
2. Teachers were not allowed to set deadlines for work to allow students to continually improve on their work until they are able to submit quality work. Students were allowed to ask for an incomplete if they needed more time to submit their work.
3. In school suspension was not used. Instead of sending students to in school suspension, they were sent to a room where they can relax, cool off, and talk to a counselor about why they are acting up.
Sounds pretty good right? Now here's what really happened:
1. Students who were asking for 5-minute walks ended up getting 15-minute or whole class period strolls around the campus. Too many students were in the hallways cutting class. Teachers also abused this by allowing a problem student 5-minute walks just to get them out of the classroom.
2. Instead of submitting work and asking comments from teachers on how to improve their work and receive an A, many students stopped submitting work altogether because they could always ask for an incomplete. Students were submitting work late and too close to the grade submission deadline. Teachers were overwhelmed because on the day grades were due, students were still turning in work and the teachers HAD TO accept them.
3. Students become bolder in committing offenses because the penalty for breaking a rule was getting out of class and staying in a room where the were lights dim (the perfect atmosphere for students to think about their feelings and search deep down on why they committed such an offense...you get the drift).
Glasser's philosophy is anarchy in disguise...what better way to start chaos than to remove structure in child's life. Children need structure. Children want structure although they often act like they despise it. Granted, there were many errors in implementing Glasser's principles, there really is no way to make it work when it is flawed to begin with.
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BRAIN-DAMAGED
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-07-13
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Glasser cannot be more wrong when he beats his drum for increased anarchy at all levels in the education system. You dont get cooperation encouraging everyone to be more self-centered and self absorbed. In fact, it's not possible for people to be more self-absorbed than they are.
Colin Turnbull, the anthropologist, spent a lifetime studying people and concluded that the most common and most basic human trait is self-deception. That is, humans substitute 'positive' attitude and good will for explicit standards, and assume that people are naturally decent and cooperative. Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Nothing is more untrue.
When you strip the embroidery from Glasser's argument what you have is: People instinctively know what their best interests are and will act in their best interests if society will stop imposing its standards on them. That is, Glasser asserts that what people do is antithetical to what society wants from them. The standards are the problem and pinch people's toes. He also implies that kids are capable of good choices. They arent. That is, dont bet the farm that a kid will naturally make a wise choice. Bill Cosby says kids are brain-damaged and incapable of wise discrimination.
God created schools for a few simple reasons: To cultivate habits of obedience, punctuality, reliability, and adherence to standards. Schools also exist to brain-wash unformed minds to accept social norms, and prepare kids to deal with oafs and dorks in the real world.
Glasser is correct about one thing. If a problem child came to him for medical help and refused to cooperate, he'd stop dealing with them because his time is too valuable to waste on malcontents.
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A Quality Read
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-05-13
I've used Glasser's work in my middle-school classroom to establish what's acceptable work, and I've used it to broach discussions of why we even mandate schooling. Few books on education that I've read have had the impact on my teaching that this book and The Quality School Teacher: A Companion Volume to The Quality School, Glasser's other tome on applying Choice Theory to education, have had. If you want an approach to dealing with people that will work, then read this book. If you're looking for a tome on how to fill students' heads with information--which is, admittedly, something all teachers ought to be concerned with--then you should have already read this book, for the information herein will make you all the more successful.
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Change is hard to do.
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-05-20
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
As I see many of the reviewers here question and doubt the idea of quality schools and choice theory. It has been a few years since I read Choice Theory and Reality Therapy, but I have put the theories into practice in my own life. It is very difficult to let go of the old external control psychology, but it is very possible to make Choice Theory a new habit. Changing the school systems seems like such an enormous task, an almost impossible one. But I think most parents would agree that we need to do something new. There is a reason why Dr. Glasser doesn't go into deep explaination as to how to bring about a Quality School in his book, because he wants teachers and principles to take his classes to learn the theory.
This book is an introduction to the theory not a course in how to practice it. And the one reason I don't think he has a lot of statistical information in his book is because at the time of writing it, there wasn't much to give. I believe it is hard for people to admit what they are doing now might not be the best way to do it, thus they resist anything that might suggest to them change. But if you are looking for some way to change your outlook on life, your happiness level, or you child's schools this book and his others are good investments. These books are unlike any other book you will read in the field of psychology.
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Great theory on educational reform
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-05-15
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
An educational consultant recommended this book for me as I was looking at some ideas for changing processes at my school. I think Glasser presents some great ideas, however, I found that one fundamental piece was missing, parental responsibility. Schools can not be solely responsible for the rearing and education of children. While I think Glasser's ideas are excellent for working with motivated children, I'm not convinced that behavioral suggestions would work with children from all backgrounds.
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