Long awaited after No Future, and making queer theory controversial again, Lee Edelman’s Bad Education proposes a queerness without positive identity—a queerness understood as a figural name for the void, itself unnamable, around which the social order takes shape. Like Blackness, woman, incest, and sex, queerness, as Edelman explains it, designates the antagonism, the structuring negativity, preventing that order from achieving coherence. But when certain types of persons get read as literalizing queerness, the negation of their negativity can seem to resolve the social antagonism and totalize community. By translating the nothing of queerness into the something of “the queer,” the order of meaning defends against the senselessness that undoes it, thus mirroring, Edelman argues, education’s response to queerness: its sublimation of irony into the meaningfulness of a world. Putting queerness in relation to Lacan’s “ab-sens” and in dialogue with feminist and Afropessimist thought, Edelman reads works by Shakespeare, Jacobs, Almodóvar, Lemmons, and Haneke, among others, to show why queer theory’s engagement with queerness necessarily results in a bad education that is destined to teach us nothing.

Bad Education, written by and starring Jack Whitehall, follows Alfie Wickers the worst teacher to ever (dis)grace the British Education System, and a bigger kid than the pupils he teaches. Abbey Grove school is populated by some of the weirdest teachers you could ever meet: Fraser the hair-brained Headmaster who longs to be down with the kids, Miss Gulliver the biology teacher with a heart of gold but perhaps a dash too much openness and honesty, Miss Mollinson the happily swinging Head of Maths who won't let her hip replacement get in the way and Deputy Headmistress Miss Pickwell who displays all the charm and sensitivity of a Third Reich Dominatrix. Alfie's class is Form K, a bunch of misfits that have been written off by the rest of the school, but Alfie can't help but see a bit of himself in them. This is about a class of kids and their teacher's quest to get through life and get the best results with the minimum amount of effort possible. Sadly it's not an equation that always adds up. From a disastrous parents' evening to cringe-worthy sex-education lessons to life threatening self-defence classes to school elections full of dirty tricks and a school trip to see a rhino pig; Bad Education is school life as you've never seen it before. Bad Education: The Teachers' Handbook is filled with hilarious content from both the first and upcoming second series from pupils' report cards and the graffiti found in the staff toilets, to Alfie's teaching methods and the best ways to scam a free laptop from the government.

Clear, easy principles to spot what's nonsense and what's reliable Each year, teachers, administrators, and parents face a barrage of new education software, games, workbooks, and professional development programs purporting to be "based on the latest research." While some of these products are rooted in solid science, the research behind many others is grossly exaggerated. This new book, written by a top thought leader, helps everyday teachers, administrators, and family members—who don't have years of statistics courses under their belts—separate the wheat from the chaff and determine which new educational approaches are scientifically supported and worth adopting. Author's first book, Why Don't Students Like School?, catapulted him to superstar status in the field of education Willingham's work has been hailed as "brilliant analysis" by The Wall Street Journal and "a triumph" by The Washington Post Author blogs for The Washington Post and Brittanica.com, and writes a column for American Educator In this insightful book, thought leader and bestselling author Dan Willingham offers an easy, reliable way to discern which programs are scientifically supported and which are the equivalent of "educational snake oil."

Americans are increasingly alarmed over our nation's educational deficiencies. Though anxieties about schooling are unending, especially with public institutions, these problems are more complex than institutional failure. Expenditures for education have exploded, and far exceed inflation and the rising costs of health care, but academic achievement remains flat. Many students are unable to graduate from high school, let alone obtain a college degree. And if they do make it to college, they are often forced into remedial courses. Why, despite this fiscal extravagance, are educational disappointments so widespread? In Bad Students, Not Bad Schools, Robert Weissberg argues that the answer is something everybody knows to be true but is afraid to say in public America's educational woes too often reflect the demographic mix of students. Schools today are filled with millions of youngsters, too many of whom struggle with the English language or simply have mediocre intellectual ability. Their lackluster performances are probably impervious to the current reform prescriptions regardless of the remedy's ideological derivation. Making matters worse, retention of students in school is embraced as a philosophy even if it impedes the learning of other students. Weissberg argues that most of America's educational woes would vanish if indifferent, troublesome students were permitted to leave when they had absorbed as much as they could learn; they would quickly be replaced by learning-hungry students, including many new immigrants from other countries. American education survives since we import highly intelligent, technically skillful foreigners just as we import oil, but this may not last forever. When educational establishments get serious about world-class mathematics and science, and permit serious students to learn, problems will dissolve. Rewarding the smartest, not spending fortunes in a futile quest to uplift the bottom, should become official policy. This book is a bracing reminder of the risks of political manipulation of education and argues that the measure of policy should be academic achievment.

As Ben Goldacre’s Guardian Bad Science column debunks popular scientific myths, this book aims to do the same for education myths and unjustified claims.

"This is an important and welcome book. Readers can see the faults of simplistic judgments, neglect of evidence, dismissal of researchers, and injudicious implementation." From the foreword by Paul Black We all know that small classes are better than large classes; that children are best taught in groups according to their ability; that some schools are much better than others and that we should teach children according to their individual learning styles ... or do we? This book asks awkward questions about these and many other sacred cows of education. Each chapter tackles a persistent myth in education, confronting it with research evidence and teasing out any kernel of truth which may underlie the myth. Leading authors from the world of education each bring analysis and expertise to bear on their chosen subject, presenting their argument in an accessible manner based on sound scholarship. Some of the conclusions drawn in Bad Education are likely to be real eye-openers for many teachers and parents, who will find some of their basic assumptions about education called into question. It is also essential reading for anyone involved in educational policy making or management. Contributors: Philip Adey, Mike Anderson, Ed Baines, Paul Black, Peter Blatchford, Margaret Brown, Guy Claxton, Frank Coffield, Justin Dillon, Julian (Joe) Elliott, Simon Gibbs, Jeremy Hodgen, Neil Humphrey, Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Bill Lucas, Bethan Marshall, Brian Matthews, Corinne Reid, Rob Webster, Dylan Wiliam “As education policymakers it can be difficult to resist the comfort of our own experience and gut instincts or the lure of populism. Bad Education is an invaluable myth-buster that tears down common misconceptions and serves up hard facts in their place. This is a politically unpalatable guide to the evidence that will challenge policymakers, the press and parents alike.” Dale Bassett, Head of Public Policy, AQA “Kenneth Baker describes in his memoirs how education policy was influenced by Margaret Thatcher’s hairdresser and possibly her cleaner. More recently policy has been justified by the selective use of research in an attempt to create legitimacy for policy changes. Bad Education seeks to address some of the most important issues facing education without resorting to the rhetoric of ideologues or detailed statistical analysis. Instead an acknowledged expert in each issue facing education looks carefully at the available evidence. These issues range from how schools are organized, to teaching methods and learning. Each of the issues examined is one that has many ‘myths’ associated with it. The authors show, in an clear and compelling way, that too much of what is being done in schools is being decided upon based on the selective use of evidence. Vocational education, ability grouping, class size, use of teaching assistants, synthetic phonics, learning styles, brain training and dyslexia are just some of the issues where the evidence is presented, in an engaging and easy to digest manner, and where all of those in education should take notice of the conclusions. In some cases the evidence is helpfully conclusive. In others it is inconclusive and messy. As we constantly seek to redefine what is best for the next cohort of children to enter education Adey and Dillon, in this highly readable and well edited book, provide us with the evidence as to what does really does make a difference. Perhaps more importantly they move the debate on from gut instinct and myths to looking at the evidence. This book should become a manifesto for change for all of those in education who want to ensure our children do not receive a Bad Education. Every Headteacher should buy a copy for every teacher and hopefully somebody might even place a copy under the Secretary of State’s Xmas tree.” Gary Phillips, Head Teacher, Lilian Bayliss School “This is a welcome and important book. It takes apart the myths which support the dearly held convictions, simplistic assumptions, prejudices and irrational certainties of both politicians and teachers. Admitting that education is not itself a science, but demonstrating how both neuroscience and psychology have become available to inform educational policy and practice, it should provide food for more careful and well-informed thought to all who can influence what happens in our schools.” Baroness Perry of Southwark

For the first time in history Americans face the prospect of a unified set of national standards for K-12 education. While this goal sounds reasonable, and Common Core has been presented as a state-led effort, it is anything but. This book analyzes Common Core from the standpoint of its deleterious effects on curriculum--language arts, mathematics, history, and more--as well as its questionable legality, its roots in the aggressive spending of a few wealthy donors, its often-underestimated costs, and the untold damage it will wreak on American higher education. At a time when more and more people are questioning the wisdom of federally-mandated one-size-fits-all solutions, Drilling through the Core offers well-considered arguments for stopping Common Core in its tracks.

Phil Beadle has been described as The scourge of education policy makers and A prolific writer of articles challenging the status quo in education. Bad Education is an anthology of his best columns. Written in his trademark, simple, luminous and down-to-earth style, this collection is a wry look at more or less every element of educational change over the last five years.

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Mind-opening writing on what kids need from school, from one of education’s most outspoken voices Arguing that our schools are currently in the grip of a “cult of rigor”—a confusion of harder with better that threatens to banish both joy and meaningful intellectual inquiry from our classrooms—Alfie Kohn issues a stirring call to rethink our priorities and reconsider our practices. Kohn’s latest wide-ranging collection of writings will add to his reputation as one of the most incisive thinkers in the field, who questions the assumptions too often taken for granted in discussions about education and human behavior. In nineteen recently published essays—and in a substantive introduction, new for this volume—Kohn repeatedly invites us to think more deeply about the conventional wisdom. Is self-discipline always desirable? he asks, citing surprising evidence to the contrary. Does academic cheating necessarily indicate a moral failing? Might inspirational posters commonly found on school walls (“Reach for the stars!”) reflect disturbing assumptions about children? Could the use of rubrics for evaluating student learning prove counterproductive? Subjecting young children to homework, grades, or standardized tests—merely because these things will be required of them later—reminds Kohn of Monty Python’s “getting hit on the head lessons.” And, with tongue firmly in cheek, he declares that we should immediately begin teaching twenty-second-century skills. Whether Kohn is clearing up misconceptions about progressive education or explaining why incentives for healthier living are bound to backfire, debunking the idea that education reform should be driven by concerns about economic competitiveness or putting “Supernanny” in her place, his readers will understand why the Washington Post has said that “teachers and parents who encounter Kohn and his thoughts come away transfixed, ready to change their schools.”