In this groundbreaking book, Theodore and Nancy Sizer insist that students learn not just from their classes but from their school’s routines and rituals, especially about matters of character. They convince us once again of what we may have forgotten: that we need to create schools that constantly demonstrate a belief in their students.
“In the age of Columbine, [the Sizers] may offer a path out the deep sense of adolescent alienation that we are only beginning to recognize.” -James Traub, The New York Times Book Review
“Theodore and Nancy Sizer describe, with passion, wisdom, and diligence, what a moral school could look like.” -Marian Wright Edelman, president, Children’s Defense Fund
“Theodore Sizer and Nancy Faust Sizer have been on the front lines of the school reform battle for decades.” -Newsweek
“Teaching is a moral profession, and the Sizers provide us with invaluable insights into the way in which values play themselves out in the lives of children and teachers.” -Herbert Kohl, author of The Discipline of Hope
“The power of a good school to grow good people who can reinvigorate public life is enormous-and the Sizers have got it just right. It isn’t an ‘add-on’ but part-and-parcel of the whole enterprise-as it has been part-and-parcel of their own lives.” -Deborah Meier, author of The Power of Their Ideas
“The Sizers offer us an important and clarifying book on a subject that begs for their exceptional thoughtfulness-the moral aspects of education, explained here, suggestively and astutely, by two wise, experienced teachers.” -Robert Coles, author of The Moral Life of Children
“This book is a must-read for anybody concerned with character education, moral teaching, or simply with the values of our children. Carefully thought out, cutting edge, and completely compelling.” -Amitai Etzioni, author of The New Golden Rule
“Theodore Sizer looms as a giant on the American educational landscape. . . . [The Students Are Watching] packs a mammoth wallop to the status quo with arguments rarely addressed to political leaders who make educational decisions.” -Muriel Cohen, The Boston Globe