Leon Botstein, Jefferson's Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture (1997)

This book launched the network (Bard High School Early Colleges) in which I now teach. Frankly, I had mixed reactions to it. The book is wider ranging than I expected - while Botstein makes arguments that lend themselves to our "early college" model, they are not the focus of the book (which, truth be told, meanders somewhat, though often in interesting directions). In short, I was surprised that this book inspired Michael Bloomberg's chancellor of education to reach out to Botstein and propose a collaboration, which led to the founding of BHSEC Manhattan in 2001. The early parts of the book I found less persuasive. Botstein begins by focusing on - and lamenting - the pervasive pessimism he sees around him, which is a surprising commentary on the go-go '90s. If one were being charitable, one might say it's testimony to Botstein's independence of mind. However, he himself provides plenty of evidence - including the stagnation of middle-class wages since the 1970s - that would seem to make pessimism appear quite warranted. Also unconvincing was his main rationale for having students start college earlier - he rests his case on the earlier physical maturation of adolescents today compared to 50 or 100 years ago (for example, the onset of first menstruation is now more than a year earlier). Botstein never even attempts to show that this physical precocity has been matched by intellectual acceleration. The recent work of Jean Twenge on the "safetyism" of Generation Z (Generations) makes the opposite seem more likely - 16-year-olds today, for example, behave much like 13-year-olds of thirty years ago. In the second half of the book I began to warm to my Founding Father. As unachievable as it may be, his desire to inculcate a passion for learning resonated with me. He cites Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's "flow state" - the intense, edge-of-one's-capabilities engagement of the master musician or craftsman - as what we as teachers should aim to inspire and facilitate in our students. Botstein makes appealing suggestions about how to encourage a sense of wonder, curiosity, and intellectual modesty - all attitudes that I hold dear. So by the end of the book, I found myself engaged by Botstein's outlook and stance toward life, if not fully persuaded by his rationale for early college.