Author's Rebuttal to the Review of
The Queen of Education
LouAnne Johnson
November 8, 2004
Alan Haskvitz's review of The Queen of Education is factually incorrect and misleading. For example, Mr. Haskvitz states that the book doesn't "bother the reader" with a bibliography, glossary or index. The book does have an index, and bibliographic information is included at the end of each chapter for the sake of convenience, but a glossary normally is not included in books such as mine that are written in anecdotal style. And I have, indeed, included statistics where Mr. Haskvitz claims I haven't. For example, he says no source is listed for my claim that 85% of incarcerated juveniles have serious reading problems—but a footnote cites the U.S. Bureau of Prisons from which that data was drawn. Likewise, I have listed numerous references to studies and supporting sources in the chapters on Scotopic Sensitivity (six references) and EFA's (12 references).
As for Mr. Haskvitz's confusion about the organization of the book, it is a collection of essays and therefore doesn't require a logical order. The subtitle, which was added by the marketing department, could be misleading—the books does not contain rules for making schools work—and may have had something to do with Mr. Haskvitz's professed frustration.
To be fair, perhaps Mr. Haskvitz read the advance galleys which, unfortunately, were quite different from the finished product. However, Mr. Haskvitz's comments about the back cover "blurb" (blurbs are written by advertising and marketing people who believe readers must be "hooked" by a catchy phrase and should not be confused or substituted for the book's content) and his objection that the royal edicts in the Queen of Education essay do not cite references and statistics, give me pause. That essay was meant (and is generally perceived by readers) to be satirical, and satire normally does not include or require such data. So, I begin to wonder whether perhaps Mr. Haskvitz simply didn't "get it." One of my primary objections to our current education system is the persistent focus on statistics and studies, instead of common sense and basic humanity.
LouAnne Johnson
Email: ljohnson66@triad.rr.com
http://www.members.authorsguild.net/louanne
~
ER home |
Reseņas Educativas |
Resenhas Educativas ~
~
overview | reviews | editors | submit | guidelines | announcements
~