Kick the Habit

Kick the Habit

alumni books

JOHN MERROW ’63

Merrow, a former high school teacher, college professor, instructor in a federal penitentiary and award-winning PBS education correspondent, knows a thing or two about teaching and American education. He plumbs that experience for his fifth book, in which the former English major argues that America has an addiction to school reform and offers a plan to kick the habit to revive the nation’s K-12 school system. He pulls no punches. “Our deceptive approach is causing permanent damage to probably millions of children,” he says. His book has many examples of what he calls “faux reforms” that appear to change things but fail to get at underlying conditions. He points to Obama-era efforts to raise high school graduation rates by lowering standards, “counseling” students to leave school for a GED program without ensuring they sign up, and changing grades, resulting in adults cheating on key standardized tests. “Voila, the graduation rate went up,” says Merrow. “Now, a phony diploma doesn’t actually kill anyone, but multiply that by millions and we may be killing our democracy. We need an educated populace to sustain our economy and social fabric.”

He lays out his suggested “treatment” in 12 chapters, one for each of his suggested steps to reform, including “Measure What Matters” and “Embrace Technology (Carefully).” The author insists that no single step is more important than any other. “What I believe matters more is the sequence,” he says. “We have to begin by acknowledging the addiction and appreciating the costs of this approach. The paradigm shift is asking a different question about every child. Not ‘How smart is she?’ but instead, ‘How is she smart?’ ” Full of stories from Merrow’s lengthy career, Addicted to Reform has been described by reviewers as “a wise set of lessons” with “a sharp edge of seasoned insight and delectable irreverence” that confirms Merrow’s standing as one of our most astute observers of American education. (You can read an excerpt at our website.)

Sean Plottner