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Teaching is a demanding, complex profession and many who choose to teach make their career choice without thinking about how well their own motives and expectations fit into the realities of life in a classroom. The most prospective teachers know about the teaching profession--both what it is now and what it should and can be--the better equipped they will be to take an active role in changing the system. Matching their style, needs, and goals to the obligations, responsibilities, and problems inherent in the job will give prospective teachers a better sense of what they are getting into--and allow them to take responsibility for their professional choices and personal and intellectual growth.

Sarason challenges educators to understand that to continue to struggle for 'power over' rather than 'power with' overlooks the mutual interest of all parties that will stifle any real progress in education reform. In a classroom utilizing effective teaching practices students would respond to the question, 'How do you rate this book?' with all thumbs up. ?Choice

This book explores the nature and consequences of social change, the limitations of an individual psychology, and the perils of adopting an ahistorical stance. From reflections on the current Freudian backlash to an in-depth look at the effects of the industrial revolution on the breakdown of community, examines the recurring destructive consequences that arise when a sense of rootedness and belonging disappears.In this collection of personal essays, eminent psychologist Seymour B. Sarason explores the nature and consequences of social change, the limitations of an individual psychology, and the perils of adopting an ahistorical stance.From reflections on the current Freudian backlash to an in-depth look at the effects of the industrial revolution on the breakdown of community, Sarason examines the recurring destructive consequences that arise when a sense of rootedness and belonging disappears. Particularly interesting is Sarason's examination of the American worldview--how our can-do optimism and democratic nature shape who we are and how we understand ourselves.The essays are as varied and interesting as the writer, and cover a wide range of topicsfrom literary biography and linguistics to mental health. In each chapter, Sarason is careful to examine human problems in light of their social context, always stressing the importance of creating and maintaining a network of relationships characterized by obligations, mutuality, and depAndability.

In this work, Seymour Sarason takes a penetrating look at the ways in which our political leaders, no matter how well intentioned, so often frustrate school improvement - and what must change if they are to instead advance it. Sarason calls on political leaders to ask the important questions: Why has the expenditure of billions of dollars had such disappointing consequences? Why do apparently successful educational innovations not spread to other schools in the same district, and often not even to other classrooms in the same school? Why is it that as students go from elementary to middle to high school they become increasingly bored and indifferent? What do we know about the adequacy of the programs that prepare educators? Asking these and other vital questions, Sarason contends, is the first step politicians must take toward solving the problems in our educational system.