The Education of Sam Sanders
Like too many good science fiction tales of old, we're much closer to the storyline T.S. Poetter has invented. . .[and] the climate of opinion he creates than I wish were true. It's a well-deserved and well-executed blow, at times humorous, but too often chilling, on behalf of what is becoming commonplace in American schooling. Sam's futuristic school lives with me daily as I work across this nation trying to remember what 'school reform' was supposed to be about. But we're not there yet, and there is time to turn back as his fictional characters do. It offers us a chance to break the silence and discuss where and [for] what [reason] we're educating the future generation. (Deborah Meier, Emeritus chair, Coalition of Essential Schools; author and founder of Central Park East and Mision Hill schools in East Harlem and Roxbury, Boston)The Education of Sam Sandersis an attempt to put a face on his long standing arguments against proficiency testing and the disruption it causes in the educational process....the story works as both fiction and sociology lesson." (Bob Ratterman, The Oxford Press)T.S. Poetter invents a new category of educational research. He brings together the medium and the message in a way that informs our senses-all of them: what we think, how we feel, and who we are. Sam's eyes become our eyes, and things are never the same again. This is a powerful book that should be read by those who are looking for new ways to understand schools and to bring about change. (Thomas J. Sergiovanni,, Lillian Radford Professor of Education, Trinity University)