Review by STACY DONG
(www.zainelicious.blogspot.com)

THE GOOD SCHOOL
How Smart Parents Get Their Kids the Education They Deserve
By Peg Tyre
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

One of the most talked about and discussed topics for parents are the schools that they are sending their children to. Parents nowadays have a choice of public, private, international and homeschooling centres for their children.

While the choices are abundant for the types of schools your child could be enrolled into, the most important question is: Which is the right and good school for your children?

Is it the school that has the longest waiting list (it has to be that good if you have to enrol your child even before he is born!)?

Or is it the school that is in the most affluent neighbourhood? Or is it the school that is more academic-based or more play-based?

Parents (at least most of them, anyway) from all over the globe are obsessed with trying to find that perfect school.

Award winning journalist Peg Tyre aims to help parents do just that in The Good School by laying out the fundamentals of a good school that could provide a good education for their children.

She first discusses the inadequacy of the American education system in providing quality education for the children in United States. According to the National Centre for Education Statistics, “about a third of children in our public schools fail to become proficient readers”.

Tyre also dismisses the assumption of many parents that private schools and small class size are the main factors that would be able to provide better education for their children.

To help parents make the right decision about their children’s education, Tyre discusses the crucial issues and controversies that would likely affect your children’s education.

She also discusses what parents should look out for in a good preschool teacher.

For example, research has shown that while passionate and energetic teachers are good, they are not effective instructors for your children during their early education years. What preschoolers also need are “teachers to talk a great deal and to talk very clearly”.

In addition to that, she outlines the many tell-tale signs and red flags of the schools and teachers that parents should avoid.

The Good School aims to provide good tools by focusing on “seven essential domains of education” that parents need to know in order to make an informed decision when it comes to providing and finding the right and best education for your children.

The “seven essential domains of education” are testing, class size, reading, mathematics, the right balance in terms of school schedule, teachers and the perfect school.

By going through each of these seven domains, parents would then be able to effectively evaluate the different schools that they are considering for their children.

How did I find this book?

I am not wild about it. While it does provide good tips on how to evaluate and find a good school for your children (be it in United States or in Malaysia), I find the book rather dry and almost boring.

Tyre includes a lot of historical background on the American education system, especially in the first few chapters for the reader’s better understanding. I find that the historical background takes my focus away from the point that she is trying to convey. A lot of times while reading the book, I got bored just trying to get through a paragraph.