education-economics

This book should be in every home. It covers safety hazards of every nature. It applies to families with children, seniors, and everyone who might not be aware that dangers lurk just about everywhere in our environment. I would say that it is a "cookbook" for safer living.

I enjoyed reading this book. I found it to be very informative on consumer issues and safety. Would recommend this book to a friend.

As Heather Martin-Zboray states in her review, this is a book well worth reading. Its suggestions are simple but radical for most Americans: let community groups sponsor sports and drama, and let the schools teach a core curriculum!

Shifting to longer class periods (the 90-minute block); starting high school at 9am rather than 7:30am (when most scientific studies reveal that adolescents should be asleep); removing disruptive loud speakers; extending the school day so that teachers can tutor students one-on-one on a daily basis; etc. are the core of Kralovec's suggestions.

Other than overcoming community aversion to these suggestions because "things always were done OUR way," there are no real roadblocks to the suggestions here. The question is this: Does America have the willpower to try to effect effective change which truly promotes learning?

In her new book, Schools That Do Too Much, Dr. Etta Kralovec advocates rethinking the amount of time and financial backing given to "school sports, DARE and extra-curricular activities", but not without rationale. She documents the toll taken upon academics from the seemingly endless stream of fundraising for one project or another. She notes that with each new societal challenge; AIDS, drugs, poverty, disrupted family units, we have expected our schools to assume responsibility for instruction on the issue, and to act as surrogate parents. Although there is undoubtedly a need for a larger community support network to support our youth, is that the role of the school? With each new program or curricula added to an already hectic week, some other piece of the day must give way. Inevitably, it is a core academic piece that is lost. With the recent increase in federally mandated standards, and a drive towards "learning results", it is especially difficult to accomplish. Kralovec acknowledges the value in special programs and extra-curricular activities, many of which grew out of progressive reform movements of the past aimed at making our communities more cohesive and nurturing places. However, in the face of nsufficient time and funding devoted to academic pursuits, she argues thatit is time to fundamentally revisit the purpose of school. We must alter the curriculum, the budget, and our own expectations to achieve success.

That the average student's day is chaotic and fragmented is more than just the "view" of Dr. Kralovec. As reported in her book, studies show that during the average high school day, a comparatively small percentage of the day is devoted to actual learning. Large chunks of precious time are squandered on moving between classes, settling into the new class, taking roll call, and the numerous and frequent interruptions from announcements,
bells, and other distractions. Furthermore, the time spent 'in class' is not always spent 'on learning'. Even the very nature of that time is examined. Research shows that the current model asks students to engage at hours when they are least able to do so, and then divides their day into ways which make it particularly difficult to focus. Perhaps from a sense of familiarity, perhaps from lack of a clear alternative, we continue to cling to this unproductive model. Kralovec offers an alternative.

Following an illustration of how to read and understand a school budget (so that parents and interested community members can see where the money is spent), Kralovec goes on to present concrete and well developed, if radical, solutions. These include doing away with homework as it is now (see her prior book The End of Homework), altering the length and structure of the school day, eliminating the bells and loudspeakers which fragment thought, respecting the time allotted to learning, and making the classroom 'sacred space'. She challenges schools and parents to revisit their long-held assumptions about what a school is, in an attempt to see what a school might be. I challenge you to read
her book, loan it to a teacher, pass it around your local school board, and start the dialogue.

Heather Martin-Zboray

Here is the clearest, must helpful book on articulation that I have ever read. Although the voice section is a bit weak, the diction section (4/5 of the book) contains clear placement information, common problems of misarticulation and solutions, and helpful drills. The judgment calls of the authors regarding standard and non-standard speech are astute. The authors know their material and can explain it clearly. A clearer, more informative text cannot be found. I only wish that they had either expanded the voice section or eliminated it and just accepted that this was a book on diction.

I used it for my Accent reducing classes at NYU. Takinng such a course can be challenging and it helps to have this comprehensive but not intimidating book. Even now, long after I have completed the course I find myself picking the book up time and again.

Spree is a fabulous and fun book. Whether you're a trivia buff, curious shopper, or just want a little defense of your favourite pasttime, this is a great book for understanding and appreciating all that is shopping. Klaffke's style is witty and sharp, and the book is consumable in short bits - perfect for waiting in long line ups.

I picked up Spree; A Cultural History of Shopping thinking it would be a quick and enjoyable read. Enjoyable, yes. Quick, no. For such a small book (trade paperback, 230 pages including an excellent bibliography and index), Spree is packed with more information about shopping than you would have imagined.

Canadian author Pamela Klaffke examines shopping from a multitude of angles, taking only a few pages at most for each topic. She really knows how to distill information down to the basics, while remaining informative and entertaining. Learn about Muzak, malls, Tupperware, infomercials, pawn shops, mystery shoppers, dysfunctional shopping, mall walking, and more. My favorite chapter is Shopping and the Media, which examines how shopping is portrayed in movies, television (sitcoms and game shows), and music.

The text is interesting enough, but in the wide side margins of many pages are additional tidbits, such as a list of celebrity shoplifters, a list of celebrity cheapskates (Katie Couric!), and the evolution of Buy Nothing Day.

Great to browse through or to read from cover to cover. Five stars.

I'm a writing tutor at the University of Illinois -- and one of my students recently showed me a copy of this book. It's a really good job. The writing flowed nicely and it was quite interesting.

This book is the centerpiece of the Princeton career center. We get ALOT of use out of it.

The costs associated with a college or university education are going up faster than the general rate of inflation and projected to do so well into the new two decades. Taming The Tuition Tiger: Getting The Money To Graduate by syndicated personal finance columnist Kathy Kristof informatively presents 529 plans for financing a college education; along with financial aid routes to pursue; information on acquiring student loans; public, private, and corporate scholarships; Uniform Gifts to Minors Act Accounts; low-income family Individual Development Accounts, and more. An excellent and thoroughly "user friendly" financial planning instruction resource, Taming The Tuition Tiger is strongly recommended reading for the families of every college-bound youth.

Kristoff is very clear and helpful for anyone looking at the (phenomenal and rising) costs of educating a child. We'll be using this for private school and right into college. It doesn't seem so overwhelming now that we've had some guidance to the options (and their pluses and minuses).

A friend showed me this book AFTER I had already done a tour as a teacher in Korea. I wish I had read it before I went. Powell gives a lot of practical information on the process of getting a job without getting scammed but the parts I enjoyed most were the stories he told about the people and situations he has experienced. He has taught in several countries and some of the cultural comparisons are downright profound. I came back to the states after a tour but reading this book makes me wish I had made a career of it.
This book would make a perfect college graduation present- give it to that young man or woman who you fear is about to do something really boring with their life- it may plant a seed in their head and give them a lot of memories

I should have read this book BEFORE teaching English in Taiwan. This is the best guidebook about teaching English in a foreign country. I am from South Africa and I did a lot of research before coming to Taiwan. I have travelled before, but I didn't know anything about teaching, working hours, contracts, recruitors, etc. If I had read this book beforehand, I would have been better prepared for my teaching experience in Taiwan. (Believe me, I've learned the hard (and expensive) way!) Everyone interested in teaching English in a foreign country MUST read this book. This will save you a lot of trouble and money!

Getting the background information on financial aid can earn a student far more than the cost of this book and quickly!

I like the section on how colleges award financial aid.

It's also an easy read, well laid out and designed with pre-printed highlights in blue "tip" boxes.

I am in school as a student and this book is amazing. I have had trouble in the past with vocabulary, but with the help of this book I have developed and polished skills I never though existed in me!

I must say, I was weary of plunking down my money, but with thier money-back guarantee, I figured I'd give it a shot. This is the best tax book I've read. It was concise, yet very readable and easy to understand.