In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School by Jal Mehta & Sarah Fine (Harvard University Press, 2019).
Tucked on page 202 of In Search of Deeper Learning, a student offers a succinct, compelling metaphor for a core challenge of high school pedagogy. “We were watching Dead Poets Society in English class,” the student explains. “And then the teacher is like, ‘This is what you’re supposed to infer from the movie,’ which is like the complete opposite of the point of the movie.” Throughout the book, Mehta and Fine provide a robust and convincing case for reconsidering the individualistic, performance-driven framing and purpose of curricula. They present four case studies across different high schools in a quixotic quest for powerful examples of deep learning. The book is a forceful reminder of the distance our pedagogies have yet to travel to authentically engage our students. Importantly, however, the authors find pockets of hope amidst pedagogical desolation, mostly on the “periphery” of educational institutions, in programs like electives and extracurriculars. The research offers glimpses of a path to a more intellectually engaged future for U.S. students.
Suneal Kolluri’s recent Kappan articles:
- Politicizing pedagogy: Teaching for liberty and justice at urban schools
- Rigor restricted: Unequal participation in advanced placement
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Suneal Kolluri
SUNEAL KOLLURI is an assistant professor of education at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, and a National Board Certified Teacher in high school social studies.
