SculptorIthas reviewed The first days of school by Harry K. Wong
Review of 'The first days of school' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Authoritarian, old-fashioned, outdated, and inefficient. I find myself wanting to yell, "Shut the hell up, Harry!" and many other epithets.q
There were some good ideas and quotes in here, but frankly I think Harry is a complete jerk and I would never want to work with him. He is quick to degrade other teachers, other people, and other cultures. I find his attitude toward other teachers highly offensive--there are very good reasons to participate in union activities and ask for better wages. Very reactionary. I can see why this book was popular in the late 90s.
Even if his general philosophies of education were good (and they aren't), you'd do better to read a more up-to-date book on them. I only finished it because someone recommended I read it.
That said, there were nuggets of wisdom. The advice on not wasting time taking role "traditionally" seems obvious but many teachers …
Authoritarian, old-fashioned, outdated, and inefficient. I find myself wanting to yell, "Shut the hell up, Harry!" and many other epithets.q
There were some good ideas and quotes in here, but frankly I think Harry is a complete jerk and I would never want to work with him. He is quick to degrade other teachers, other people, and other cultures. I find his attitude toward other teachers highly offensive--there are very good reasons to participate in union activities and ask for better wages. Very reactionary. I can see why this book was popular in the late 90s.
Even if his general philosophies of education were good (and they aren't), you'd do better to read a more up-to-date book on them. I only finished it because someone recommended I read it.
That said, there were nuggets of wisdom. The advice on not wasting time taking role "traditionally" seems obvious but many teachers still do that. Some of the book is more or less sound career advice.
But frankly, I think Harry lived in his own little world when he wrote this. He is the best teacher in the world, his students are successful, everything is perfect, and everyone likes him.
Teaching is hard. You cannot reduce it to a bunch of platitudes and, as other reviewers have put so well, "motivational posters."
And yes, if you are clever you can adapt this book to high school, but that's clearly NOT what Harry taught. Why do all the work of reading this and trying to make it work for high school when you could just....read a book about high school instead?