Coloring Outside the Lines: Raising a Smarter Kid by Breaking All the Rules

The founder and director of Northwestern University's Institute for the Learning Sciences, Schank provides a provocative look at today's educational system and offers ways parents can circumvent ""its efforts to dumb your kids down."" Pointing out that children learn best through accumulated experience, Schank claims that most schools are rooted in teaching methods dating back to the 1800s, and that today's system is focused on ""teaching for the test,"" rewarding students for ""right"" answers, obedience and the ability to memorize and parrot information. The author stresses that risk-taking and failure are integral to the learning process; yet, he claims, our school systems are fixated instead on high grades, homework and standardized testing. Though Schank comes down very hard on school, calling it ""a formidable foe for parents who want to raise smarter kids,"" his book quickly segues into how parents can make a difference in their child's education outside the classroom. Shank urges parents to take their children's education into their own hands and offers ways to help foster the ""real world skills"" of verbal proficiency, creativity, analytical thinking, gumption, ambition and inquisitiveness. His methods range from easy solutions, such as talking more at family meals, to providing children with a vast range of experiences, stimulating logical thinking in complicated situations and identifying their natural talents. Educators may find Schank's frank remarks disturbing, but parents concerned about raising smarter kids with a passion for learning will find this a helpful and eye-opening treatise on what they may already have suspected about formal education. Way outside the lines, this is a compelling and vital book for parents of school-age children. (July)