Giving up on School
Student Dropouts and Teacher Burnouts
- Margaret Diane LeCompte - University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
- Anthony Gary Dworkin
Other Titles in:
At-Risk
At-Risk
October 1991 | 312 pages | Corwin
Students don't just drop out of school, they dump it. Teachers don't just quit, they bolt. Both are victims of the alienation process that prevails in schools -- and is cultivated by the conditions within the school, the community, and society at large.
The search for a solution to these conditions is hardly new, but nearly all attempts have failed. Giving Up on School provides educators with the insight they need to know why previous "solu-tions" solved nothing because reformers have approached the situation as two distinct problems. The root causes are the same in each and "mandate an immediate and drastic reappraisal."
Giving Up on School is the culmination of years of sociologi-cal and anthropological research in school settings. The authors offer a compelling portrait of those who "turn off, tune out, and drop out" and then propose changes -- both modest and not-so-modest -- to reverse the trend.
Introduction
The Contemporary Context of Cultural Expectations
Turned Off, Tuned Out, Dropped Out
Creating Failure: Why Students Drop Out
The Who and Why of Teacher Burnout
To Quit or Not to Quit
Alienation and Schools
Giving up on Schools: A Process Model
Why School Reforms Fail
Conclusion: Some Modest and Not So Modest Proposals