The Bottom Line
By Ron Clark; 196 pages. Subtitle: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child.
The successful student? Maybe. The Southern gentleperson is more like it. These rules are focused on kids being polite and compliant and well-mannered, and while that's all well and good, piled on 55 rules strong it sometimes feels more like a teacher's power trip than a true recipe for children's success.
Pros
- Short and easy to read
- Sets good priorities for polite and well-behaved children
- Inspiring to read about an enthusiastic teacher
- Most parents can find one or two goals here to focus on
- Rules supposedly worked for kids with learning disabilities and delays
Cons
- Author's self-confidence borders on hubris
- Some rules are rambling and not generally applicable
- May not reflect the priorities of parents of children with special needs
- Looks down on anyone with different priorities
- Makes things seem simple that many families may find terribly complicated
Description
- Introduction
- Rules 1-55
- A Few Tips for Dealing with Children
- Tips for Dealing with Parents
- Tips for Setting Punishments and Rewards
- In Closing...
Guide Review - Book Review: The Essential 55
I've been eyeing this slim small volume on bookstore shelves and tables since it first came out in 2003. Such a tempting promise: "discover the successful student in every child." I'd flip it open and scan a rule or two and think, "This is not for my kids," and put it down. But curiosity finally got the best of me, and I've now read through all 55 rules, this magical code that will help me make my children more successful. And I still think it's not for my kids. Or, for that matter, for me.
Rule by rule, there's not much to argue with here. Manners are good, doing homework is good, listening is good, respect is good. But you don't have to read too much of Clark's text to see that, of all the values he promotes and teaches, "modesty" isn't one. It's one thing to read about a young teacher who, with enthusiasm and innovation and sheer force of personality, makes great strides with students others have written off. It's another to be told that anybody who can't just isn't trying hard enough. Clark reminds me of those parents who think that everybody should have perfectly disciplined children because she does. I don't like them much, either.
There is some good food for thought here, and it might be worth reading through and picking one or two of the 55 rules to really focus on with your child. But the cumulative effect of so many ambitious goals ... well, it makes it hard for me to follow Rule 4: "Respect other students' comments, opinions and ideas."
