How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning: The Credentials Race in American Education

By David Labaree and David F. Labaree

Book Overview

Getting ahead and getting an education are inseparable in the minds of most Americans. David Labaree argues, however, that the connection between schooling and social mobility may be doing more harm than good, for the pursuit of educational credentials has come to take precedence over the acquisition of knowledge. Labaree examines the competing intellectual and ideological traditions that have fought for dominance in our public schools from the nineteenth century to the present. He claims that by thinking of education primarily as the route to individual advancement, we are defining it as a private good--a means of gaining a competitive advantage over other people. He endorses an alternative vision, one that sees education as a public good, providing society with benefits that can be collectively shared--for example, by producing citizens who are politically responsible and workers who are economically productive. He points out that when education is seen primarily as a private consumer good, a number of consequences follow. Formal characteristics of schooling--grades, credits, and degrees--come to assume greater weight than substantive characteristics, such as actually learning something. Grading becomes more important for its social consequences than for its pedagogical uses. For these and other reasons, the pursuit of certification and degrees takes precedence over the goals of learning, and the private benefits of schooling take precedence over its democratic and civic functions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300078676
• ISBN13: 9780300078671
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A tad dry, but insightful

This is a collection of numerous articles in recent years by Labaree, on topics ranging from schools of education to the history of public schools. Since most come from scholarly journals, the language is dry to those of us who are non-academics. Many of his points though are good and his discussion on the purpose of education is an interesting thread that runs throughout the book. Best of all, the book is an objective look, from someone more concerned with educational programs that work than with any particular agenda.