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Wasted: Why Education Isn't Educating Paperback – January 27, 2011

by Frank Furedi (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
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Furedi turns his attention to the education system, skilfully analyzing current processes and providing a way forward. Never has so much attention been devoted to education - and the problems with it. Yet we rarely ask why everyone from the government to parents continually obsess about it. Why are we so constantly worried about it? Why do so many of the solutions proposed actually make matters worse? Tony Blair's 'education, education, education' slogan ensured it remained at the forefront of political agendas. However, the more education is talked about the clearer it becomes that education is not considered as a value in its own right. It is praised for its potential contribution to economic development, as a central instrument for encouraging social inclusion and mobility. Increasingly, the promotion of education has little to do with learning as such. This book is a brilliant piece of analysis. No one from Piaget to David Cameron is safe from Furedi's criticism.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Continuum
  4. Publication date
    January 27, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.54 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1441122109
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1441122100
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Furedi build his case methodically and argues it carefully, if not elegantly. He supports it with quotes (shrewdly selected, sometimes repeated) from politicians and educationalists ... the analysis rings true, as does Furedi's defence of a subject-based curriculum and a philosophy of education that recognises the duty of one generation to impart a canon of knowledge to the next.--Sanford Lakoff

A thought provoking read.--Sanford Lakoff

Author article, February 2010.--Sanford Lakoff

Frank Furedi holds forth with passion and wit--Sanford Lakoff

Recommended by New Statesman--Sanford Lakoff

There is a lot of sense here, and anyone who teaches traditional subjects at A-level or lectures at a university will recognise the phenomenon of students who are exemplary in their work-related personal skills, conscientious in their environmentalism and tolerance of diversity, sensible in their eating, drinking and non-smoking - but also utterly uninterested in intellectual debate and incapable of seeing the point of simply knowing more. Furedi makes his case well.--Sanford Lakoff

Well researched ... Interesting content, persuasive arguments ... Good to get the cogs in the brain ticking over--Sanford Lakoff

A thought provoking read.--,

Author article, February 2010.--,

Frank Furedi holds forth with passion and wit--,

Recommended by New Statesman--,

A thought provoking read.--Morning Star

Author article and title mention, alive! February/March 2010

Author article in The Australian, January 2010 and Title Mention

Author article in Times Educational Supplement, November 2009.

Author article, February 2010.--The Australian

Frank Furedi holds forth with passion and wit--Times Higher Education

Recommended by New Statesman--New Statesman

Reviewed in Contemporary Review

Same mention in Herne Bay Gazette, Faversham News and Kentish Gazette, October 2009

Title mention from author article in The Australian, August 2009.

About the Author

Frank Furedi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent at Canterbury. He is the author of numerous books including Culture of Fear, Invitation to Terror and Paranoid Parenting, all published by Continuum.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Continuum (January 27, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1441122109
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1441122100
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.54 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

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  1. Frank Furedi

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
19 global ratings

Top review from the United States

Dr Neil MacNeill
5.0 out of 5 stars An iconoclastic demolition of mushy, feel-good schooling.
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2010
Furedi steps into the ring to fight the years of educational neglect and indoctrination of students. He delivers telling blows to the wishy-washy, feel-good schooling that has been paraded under the guise of progressive education. What is surprising is that the champions of this progressive education, in trying to break down societal structures to advantage the dispossessed, failed dismally and further disadvantaged the disadvantaged. That is unforgivable.

Furedi's opponents in this heavy-weight bout are the chameleon-like ideologues whose role is to subvert society and education by:
1. Disparaging formal knowledge;
2. Disparaging automatic responses and memorisation, the necessary and sufficient building blocks of deep learning;
3. Disparaging the teachers' knowledge;
4. Disparaging the teachers' authority (guide on the side);
5. Disparaging schooling; and
6. Disparaging parents and societies' knowledge and culture.

The strength of Furedi's argument is based on his sociological view of societal changes. For example, the author asks- "Hey, what has happened to adult authority in the last fifty years?" Then, we realise the incremental, subliminal changes, which have affected our lives since the 1960s (the pill, the Beatles and Vietnam), together, add up to an identifiable paradigm shift. The resultant changes in the classroom management have been clothed in reassuring words and theories, but cognitive learning suffered at the expense of affective-social learning, which counts for nought in a globally competitive situation.

This book is a wakeup call, not an academic paper. It is aimed a broad range of readers and is written in an evocative style. Readers need to take in the argument and then ask, "Is Furedi right?"

This excellent book will generate passionate debate about the real purpose of schooling and education.
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Richard Jones-Nerzic
5.0 out of 5 stars Not well enough known
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2021
Verified Purchase
Not widely read by teachers it seems. Confronts the same issues as Daisy and Didau with wider a sociological focus and different set of conclusions.
One person found this helpful
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Elmer6
4.0 out of 5 stars Remplit son office
Reviewed in France on June 27, 2019
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june
4.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2017
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Very very good thankyou
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jsm
2.0 out of 5 stars Wasted opportunity
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2010
Verified Purchase
This book argues that the politicisation of education has undermined its true mission and that education must now be allowed "to discover its future direction for itself" (206). Education, which should be about the transmission of intellectual and cultural achievements from one generation to another, has been hijacked by politicians bent on using it to re-engineer society. Teachers have been elbowed aside by managers, behavioural experts, and social workers, and their authority (and so ability to do their job) has been undermined. Under the influence of these 'outsiders', traditional subject knowledge-based education has been replaced by child-centred learning to the detriment of all. The expansion of testing and league tables and the inflation of paper qualifications has led to a lot more education but of much poorer quality. All of this has been made worse by an erosion of adult authority generally.
I'm sympathetic to many of these arguments and the book's questioning of much of the rhetoric that surrounds education is welcome. But it falls down badly on its own mission -- it is scathing about the poor quality of much of what is being taught in classrooms, yet it is itself poorly argued. Professor Furedi makes a reasonably good job of attacking the weaknesses of the current consensus, but fails to ask hard questions about the positions he himself is advocating. This, for a senior academic (he's Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent at Canterbury), is depressing. It may be, for instance, that subject knowledge-based education should lie at the heart of education, but it is a case that has to be argued rather than a proposition that can simply be asserted. Otherwise the argument descends to the 'I'm right, you're wrong' level that renders so much debate on education unproductive.
The book is also badly written, highly repetitive, and at times verges on the ungrammatical. Almost every page cries out for the attentions of a decent book editor. Professor Furedi, for instance, complains repeatedly of a lack of faith by teachers in their pupils' ability to deal with difficult material. Yet he seems to lack faith in his own readers. He begins one sentence: "As the well-known nineteenth-century man of letters, Goethe, observed...". I think "As Goethe observed..." would have displayed rather more faith in his readership.
The book raises some important and interesting issues. But because it is poorly argued and badly written, it is unlikely to trouble those who oppose its claims. All in all, a wasted opportunity.
44 people found this helpful
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Sophia Brown
3.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2013
Verified Purchase
Some very interesting arguments, and a good starting point for understanding many of the issues in contemporary education. However the constant attack on Government and policies did become slightly repetitive for me as a reader.
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