Bleedorn, Berenice D. (2005). Education Is Everybody’s Business: A Wake-up Call to Advocates of Educational Change. Reviewed by Adria Hoffman, University of Maryland at College Park

Bleedorn, Berenice D. (2005). Education Is Everybody’s Business: A Wake-up Call to Advocates of Educational Change. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education. pp. xxiii + 160. $27.95   ISBN 1-57886-298-1 Reviewed by Adria Hoffman University of Maryland at College Park September 3, 2006 Claiming that alternative places of schooling, such as charter schools and home schooling, better meet the increasingly diverse needs of our student population and society, Bleedorn’s book serves as a call-to-action for the general public. Bleedorn looks to members of society at large to make their voices heard, stating that by doing so we can become the enlightened democracy that Thomas Jefferson aimed to create and serve through public education. Organized into twelve chapters, this book looks to the fields of psychology, educational foundations, and business to provide a new lens through which to view the fundamental purpose of education. According to Bleedorn, this purpose should be the development of creative, critically-thinking, democratic citizens. The Need For Reform Bleedorn’s first chapter states that the field of education needs input from various disciplines outside of education, in addition to the voices of teachers and administrators within the educational system. Through these multiple perspectives she hopes that old habits of thought, epitomized by certified teachers, may be contested. Bleedorn believes that new ideas and ideals from outside of educational institutions are required to effect change because the bureaucratic educational system propagates outdated habits of thought and practice. These old habits of thought, according to Bleedorn, are in need of reform if we are to ever achieve Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of an educated electorate. In chapter two, Bleedorn expands on her vision for education, stating that the very role of the learner must be reexamined. Instead of the traditional notion of the learner as passive recipient of knowledge bestowed by the teacher, teachers and learners must be primarily concerned with the art of thinking itself. Though this idea is reminiscent of Freire’s (2000) banking theory, Bleedorn makes no mention of Paulo Freire or his widespread influence on educational theory and practice. The chapter continues with Bleedorn’s reminiscence of teaching in a rural, one-room schoolhouse in 1934. She states that many lessons learned from her experience may still apply today, including the interdisciplinary and integrative nature of the curriculum, as well as the integration of home, school and community. Utilizing recent newspaper articles to back her statement that education is in need of reform, Bleedorn calls for change in both K-12 and higher education. According to her cited media sources and based upon her personal experience within and outside of education, Bleedorn claims that the general public increasingly looks outside of public education to meet the diverse needs of children. According to the author, this means that the time has come for the public schools to radically change. Creativity and Education Bleedorn’s third chapter traces the history of the “academic discipline of creative studies” that began fifty years ago (p. 19). Providing a solid foundation in the theorists and theories that underlie this field of study, Bleedorn extends this basic understanding of creativity to her view of how this field could and should improve our educational system. According to the author, integration of theory and practice is essential. The answers to What? and Why? are interrelated and may be sought by those with creative traits. Bleedorn then lists these aforementioned traits of highly creative people (p. 27): originality, esthetic sensitivity, sense of destiny, ideational responsiveness, cognitive flexibility, independence, inquiring habit of mind, personal identity, intellectual competence, intellectual activity, critical judgment, and social acuity. The author summarizes this chapter by asking the question, “Shouldn’t they [schools] be paying as much attention to how students use what they know, and shouldn’t we be asking the ultimate question: ‘Are students including service to the community and to the common good in the use of their education?’” (p. 28). Habits of Thought Proposing a new fundamental purpose of schooling, Bleedorn begins chapter four by stating “the time has come for educationists to get serious about raising the level of thinking” (p. 29). In order to do so, top-down bureaucratic management of schools must change, providing opportunity for teachers’ voices to be heard. While her cry for reform efforts outside of the field of education may lead some to believe that she discounts educators’ opinions, Bleedorn places value in the efforts of certain teachers and administrators. Those who believe in the ideals set forth in this book are encouraged to effect change from within and be provided the voice to do so. She concludes this chapter by calling for a widespread movement to open the world of educational policy beyond finances to the development of the mind. A pioneer of the creative education movement, E. Paul Torrance’s history provides an in-depth look at the development of gifted assessments and the study of creativity. Bleedorn’s fifth chapter is a dedication to this scholar who was a mentor and professor during her undergraduate experience. The author details his assessments and provides pictorial examples of such gifted and talented tests. She concludes this chapter with a clear list of points that comprise her personal philosophy on education and creativity, based upon the scholarship and psychological assessments of Torrance. With a firm foundation in the study of creativity laid, Bleedorn extrapolates from her earlier chapters to portray her vision of creativity for the purpose of problem solving in school and life. Chapter six serves two purposes: 1) to provide an overview of the organizations and theorists involved in the study of Creative Problem Solving, and 2) to provide links between these theories and educational practice. One connection drawn by the author refers to the issue of standardized testing. Bleedorn states that educators have an obligation to provide students “with a perception of the outer reaches of their talents and possibilities and, ideally, to give them a reason to continue to learn and contribute to their society for all of their lives” (p. 62). As such, standardized testing, according to the author, only accomplishes part of that goal. Educators and policymakers must look beyond test scores to see the ideal ends of education. In order to provide an education that truly prepares students to contribute to their communities, Bleedorn again calls for the ideas and initiatives of informed citizens in educational design. Chapter seven provides the link between Bleedorn’s desire to prepare educated, contributing citizens and her focus on creativity as the foundational purpose of education. Titled “Creativity = Capitol,” this chapter makes the bold statement that “harvesting the creativity in a business translates to money in the bank” (p. 65). As such, education, according to Bleedorn, should exist on the following principles: Everyone is creative. Creative expression is the basis of a positive self-concept. Higher education is, and should, offer more courses in creativity. The worlds of education and business are interrelated. Learners should practice seriousness and playfulness simultaneously. Education and Leadership Chapter eight begins Bleedorn’s section on the influence of creative educational models on leadership. During her doctoral studies, she examined the relationship between educational experiences and effective leadership in a dynamic and changing society. This chapter outlines her research on perceptions of education and leadership qualities. She determined that her participants did not believe that character traits deemed important for global leadership were adequately addressed in 1980s educational practices. She further analyzed her results, determining that the following traits are addressed within schools: academic skills, communication skills, goal-directed attitudes, information-retrieval skills, and organizational skills. Bleedorn further determined that the following traits are not addressed within schools: tolerance for ambiguity, commitment to service, curiosity, empathy, humanistic attitudes, moral values, multilingual skills, spiritual awareness, synthesizing, mentality, visionary thinking, and world focus. Bleedorn then states that in order to educate students for leadership positions in a global society, we must integrate these skills and traits. By doing so, she says, we may attain world peace, a lofty goal, indeed. The following chapter addresses the development of her vision of education as both creative and global. Education, for the purposes of intellectual, physical, and moral development, leads to social mobility. This social mobility, according to Bleedorn, is inextricably linked to the responsibilities of democratic participation. Using the Model United Nations program as an example, Bleedorn discusses how educational programs may infuse creative educational practices with experiential tasks that promote global understandings and participation in society for the greater good. Taking on both traditional textbooks and teachers, Bleedorn argues for more experiential learning from newspapers and other media sources, as well as a “wider net” for teacher recruitment (p. 92). At the conclusion of this chapter, the author reiterates her belief that schools will become “more responsible to society when they join the public effort for global education as a basis for peace in the world” (p. 93). All content in the preceding chapters, according to the author, leads directly to the understanding that environmental education is a necessity in all schools. Chapter ten bridges the prior discussion of experiential learning and the schools’ ability to promote care for the common good. In this chapter, Bleedorn states that without mandated environmental education requirements at every level of learning, “everybody loses” (p. 97). Environmental education, posits Bleedorn, is the ideal point of curricular integration of school, society, community, and experiential learning. A Broader View: Education, Democracy, and the Greater Good In chapter eleven, Bleedorn delves into the balance between science, technology, and the humanities within education. The differing epistemologies inherent within these distinct subject areas, according to the author, should be integrated in education. As standardized educational practices do not always transfer to real-life applications, higher-order thinking skills are required to find a balance between the humanities and hard sciences, often deemed polarized extremes. These higher-order processes enable understandings of differing cultural views that the author alluded to in prior chapters. The final chapter, “Education for a democracy,” serves as Bleedorn’s final summation of ideas and personal manifesto. Arguing for the student as customer, rather than passive recipient, Bleedorn reiterates her belief that the informed citizenry can become the new educational leadership. This strong belief is based on the author’s understanding of society as an ever-changing world beyond the institution of school. As such, those outside of the educational system must take part in shaping that which occurs within. Summarizing the various chapters, Bleedorn writes “thinking is essentially a process of problem-solving, and problem-solving is the essence of creative leadership” (p. 123). She expands on this notion, arguing that if schools wish to develop global leadership, students must practice the art of creative and critical thinking, share a common vision, and work collaborative to achieve their goals. A Critique and Analysis While Bleedorn clearly develops her ideas for creativity in the classroom, she does not adequately achieve her goal of addressing school reform and advocacy efforts. Nowhere in the book does she trace any school reform efforts or make connections between educational history and her ideas. She does not provide clear or concrete examples of how to effect change, but simply argues that change must occur. Her evidence for such a need is limited, at best. Sources to support her claims are drawn from newspapers and media reports, ignoring the vast amount of scholarly literature by Ravitch, Hirsch, Tyack and Cuban, Lagemann, and many others. Also notably absent in this book is any mention of other scholarly works on the fundamental purposes of schooling. While she cites an early publication by Neil Postman, she makes no mention of his later book, The End of Education, so directly linked to the fundamental purpose of schools that she discusses. Postman’s (1995) critique of failed justifications for the purpose of schools could provide an ideal foundation for Bleedorn’s book. Postman also discusses the ends of education that may serve, specifically stating the phrase Spaceship Earth (p. 63) that Bleedorn so triumphantly praises. In the discussion of care and ethics in schooling, Bleedorn surprisingly makes no mention of Nell Noddings. Noddings's (1992) vision of education not only speaks to care for humanity, but care for non-human life and the community. She speaks directly to Bleedorn’s ideals, yet Bleedorn neglects to mention this theorist. I personally find both of these omissions quite surprising as both educational theorists have so strongly influenced educators for decades through writings that would serve to support Bleedorn’s theories. Of concern to educational psychologists, teachers, administrators, and Bleedorn’s general public should be her one-sided argument for the use of assessments from over fifty years ago to determine creative talent. Without any further reading, one may easily assume that these tests have never been challenged or even had replicated research undertaken on the basis of their merit. One may also wonder how these tests may cause stratification within school populations by identifying children with innate creative talents, as opposed to reaching the author’s goal of developing creative abilities in all children. Another question the reader is left to ponder is the definition of the term talent. In the context of Torrence’s assessments, one may understand talent as an innate ability. Further reading in this book leaves one wondering if that is, in fact, the author’s intended definition as she argues for the development of creative talents within the educational system. The reader may also become easily confused by the author’s shifting discussion from elementary and secondary education to higher education. At any given time, Bleedorn discusses curricular goals of the former, then furthers her case with examples of the latter. As institutions of higher education function in a fundamentally different way than elementary and secondary schools, a discussion of educational reform must clearly frame these differences and discuss the influences on curricular policies and teaching practices. As an interesting read on one professional’s opinions on education and how the study of creativity has influenced her career, this book is quite intriguing. However, I truly doubt that this book will have any lasting impact or effect change in any meaningful way. In order to do that, Bleedorn must utilize more current, scholarly sources to support her statements, rather than reliance upon media articles and personal opinion. In addition, she would need to anticipate the questions and arguments against creativity assessments and provide coherent answers to those questions. More thorough discussion and overview of educational reform and the process of effecting change would enable Bleedorn to partially achieve her goal. Having said this, I am left still questioning if her opinions, rooted in psychological experiments and theories over fifty years old, have the substance needed to guide our schools and children into the future. References Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Anniversary Edition). NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. Noddings, N. (1992). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education. NY: Teachers College Press. Postman, N. (1995). The end of education: Redefining the value of school. NY: Vintage Books. About the Reviewer Adria Hoffman is a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland, College Park. A former middle school music educator, her research interests include equity and access in arts education and curricular practices in music education. Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.