Susan Wise Bauer
Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child's Education

An overview of the philosophy of classical education and how this changes—or doesn’t change—the traditional goals of education. Covers the three stages of learning that characterize classical education, the place of the various “subject” areas in classical learning, the benefits to the student, the distinctives of teaching, and the overall aims of classical education—as well as the place of delight-led learning and the sciences in the classical tradition.

Our current K12 school system prioritizes a single way of understanding, pushes children into rigidly age-graded classrooms, and slaps “disability” labels over differences in learning style. And when the children struggle, schools pressure parents into “fixing” their children rather than questioning the system.

But when a serious problem arises at school, the fault more likely lies with the school (or the educational system itself) rather than with the child. This workshop invites parents and teachers to examine the traditional K-12 school structure, offers trenchant criticisms of its weaknesses, and provides a wealth of advice for parents of children whose difficulties may stem from learning differences, maturity differences, toxic classroom environments, giftedness and more.

Rethinking School is a guide to one aspect of sane, humane parenting: negotiating the twelve-grade school system in a way that nurtures and protects your child's mind, emotions, and spirit.

Susan Wise Bauer is an educator and academic who taught at the College of William & Mary in Virginia for fifteen years and has worked with parents and students for over two decades. She is the author of the classic book on education, The Well-Trained Mind, as well as other previous best-selling titles for Norton including The Well-Educated Mind, The Story of Western Science, and the History of the World series.