Noddings, Nel. (2007). Critical Lessons: What Our Schools Should Teach. Reviewed by Emily Ackman, Arizona State University

Noddings, Nel. (2007). Critical Lessons: What Our Schools Should Teach. NY: Cambridge University Press Pp. 319         ISBN 978-0521851886 Reviewed by Emily Ackman Arizona State University February 6, 2009 In her newest book, Critical Lessons: What Our Schools Should Teach, Nel Noddings takes a critical look at critical thinking and it’s lack of a role in public schools. Straight from the beginning of the book she chastises the current system for, “the neglect of topics that call forth critical and reflective thinking.” (p.2) The basis of her critique is that our current system of education does not help students prepare for the world they are entering because they are not taught necessary critical thinking skills in school. She argues both that what students are learning and the way in which they are expected to learn information in school is inadequate and outdated. “The contemporary school curriculum in America is obsolete – very near useless for current life.” (p. 205) Noddings begins in the Introduction by asking the reader to turn a critical eye on learning, education and the role each play, or should play, in self-understanding. “In an important sense, this entire book is about self-understanding and an examination of how external and internal forces affect out [sic] lives.” (p. 10) While traveling through each subsequent discussion topic, she makes sure to return to self-understanding, how this issue relates, and how it could potentially be incorporated into a public high school curriculum. After self-understanding, the reader is asked to look outward. The psychology of war is examined. This includes the havoc it wreaks on the psyche of young America in a variety of ways. Noddings then jumps to the topic of relations with other people by exploring homemaking, family, relationships, socialization, and how our interactions matter in each of these contexts. The book then turns to more general human interactions. Nature, advertising, gender, wage earning and religion are all explored in separate chapters, with their interrelation shown throughout. She finishes the book with a strong critique of the current K-12 curriculum as well as the way in which teachers are educated in this country, arguing, “not only should the curriculum be changed, but the ways of learning it should also change.” (p. 284) As someone who was always more motivated in school to learn than to get good grades, the first chapter spoke to me on a personal level and provides me with an explanation for my desire to continue my education beyond the point where many people stop. She asks the question, what does motivate us and what should motivate us when it comes to learning? One answer is that it is basic to human nature that there are things we must concentrate on that hold more interest to us than others. “My advice to students: Don’t ‘do your best in everything.’ Do an adequate job on what is required and save your energy for that about which you are passionate.” (p. 22) Noddings deserves respect for the honesty with which she approaches this subject. Few educators at any level would be brave enough to make such a statement. In the second chapter, Noddings examines the psychology of war. The basis of her critique is that war as a topic is always broached in schools in a historical social studies context, but rarely are students challenged to think critically about war and the psychological toll it takes on combatants. Her stance aside, this chapter seems out of place in this book. There is a flow throughout the general topics that begins with self, leading to immediate relationships, and expanding out into more general human interactions. This topic, while riveting, does not truly fit into any of these three broad categories and thus may throw the reader off-course. In the following chapter, the reader must make the jump to everyday life – discussing the people encountered on a daily basis and their roles they play in the reader’s life. These chapters seem most in-line with Noddings’ previous works. Still, she brings a critical eye to them, which I have not experienced in her writing previously. She makes the point that, “few of us use academic mathematics as adults, but most of us become parents. Yet our schools… rarely offer serious courses on parenting.” (p. 119) Acknowledging there are potential class discrimination issues associated with the possibility of teaching parenting in school, she argues that if it is examined critically as a topic, these problems are much less likely. This particular section is reminiscent of the Harlem Children’s Zone – a non-profit in New York City. One of the programs there is called the Baby College where one of the stated intentions is to teach middle-class parenting skills to inner-city parents; (Barnes, 2002) not values but skills. Barack Obama has lauded this program as a model he hopes to implement nation-wide. This is a concrete example that ideas can be translated into practice, but it must be done thoughtfully. The chapter on advertising and propaganda is reason enough for anyone to purchase this book. Noddings is critical of “the rise of a consumers’ republic – one that defines citizenship more in terms of consumption than of civic action.” (p. 170) She speaks of SUV’s air pollution, advertisers harnessing peer-pressure, and planned obsolescence – topics of which most thoughtful consumer are aware. But it is the subsection on health & advertising that is most enlightening. Reading intently with Adderall-induced concentration, I looked through Noddings’ critical eye at the pharmaceutical industry and the toll its systematic misrepresentation has taken on this country. The problem is the pervasiveness of influence. Once it became legal for prescription drugs to be advertised on television, the advertising budgets skyrocketed for these companies – resulting in an increase in demand for name-brand medication. In examining some of the reasons people turn to prescription drugs, it is pointed out that turning to illicit drugs for these exact same reasons is considered illegal. She argues that one of the biggest con-jobs the pharmaceutical industry has managed to pull on U.S. citizens is convincing them that improvements in drugs have played a major role in longevity, whereas the reality has more to do with improvements in sanitation. To expand on this point, she states: “The single most important move we could make globally to increase health would be to ensure a safe water supply for all of the world’s people.” (p. 184) U.S. citizens are also under the impression that the scientists who create these drugs are wise critical thinkers immune to political and social pressures. This is a blatant falsehood. Noddings points out that the extent to which our collective thinking has been warped by this industry is dangerous to the nation as individuals and as a society. Noddings uses advertising and propaganda as a doorway into looking at the self in a larger context. Gender, religion and making a living are examined and interwoven as topics that are often critically examined at the collegiate level, but basically ignored in high school curricula. She argues that this does great harm to students by allowing stereotypes to fester and the inappropriate influence of business interests to be maintained in public schools. The book ends by examining teacher education in this country. The accusation is made that “most teachers are not critical thinkers because they have not been asked to think critically” (p. 9) in their own education. As is reiterated throughout the book, sweeping changes need to be made to the K-12 curriculum, but this will be putting the cart before the horse if teacher education is not also revamped. This might be where Noddings’s arguments are weakest. She readily acknowledges that for high school students to be able to critically interrelate many of the topics discussed in the book, their teachers need to have a solid grasp not just of the curriculum that they are teaching, but also of every academic topic that might relate. Even for those who agree with the position that teacher education needs to change, this idea seems unrealistic. Throughout the book, Noddings makes it quite clear that the current academic curriculum is irrelevant to society today and must be changed dramatically to successfully prepare students for the world into which they are entering. “To neglect critical thinking on topics central to everyday life is to make the word education virtually meaningless.” (p. 4) She offers questions teachers can pose to their students that might inspire critical thinking on a given topic. Unfortunately, she does not offer tangible suggestions for how education policy-makers might go about creating the changes that are so necessary. Overall, this book made a lot of good points. I was excited to see that there are still opportunities to look at these issues in a fresh light. Although I agree that major change needs to be made in public school curricula, I was disappointed that no suggestions were made about how to go about doing this. Understandably, Noddings is an educator and not a policy-maker. But when dramatic change is called for, potential paths to this change should be examined in addition to learning why. Reference Barnes, K. (2002) The Baby College. Harlem Children’s Zone: A Look Inside, 1 (1). Retrieved October 10, 2008, from http://www.hcz.org/programs/the-hcz-project#baby_college About the Reviewer Emily Ackman is currently working on her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Arizona State University’s Mary-Lou Fulton College of Education. She holds two Master of Education degrees – one from the University of Georgia in Administration & Policy and the second from Teachers College at Columbia University in Politics & Education. She is fascinated by politics and the law and the role each plays in public education.