Check relevance first, 27 Nov 2006
Although I found marginally less errors in this book I didn't find it relevant so please check before you part with your money.
Most of the book is devoted to accounting (e.g. definition of 'paper profit'), business comprehension (e.g definition of 'supermarket own brand'), geometry (e.g. how to calculate the area of a circle) and statistics (e.g. sampling).
I was looking for a more general numeracy book, and was disappointed with the lack of non-specialist quantitative material.
If this is the type of stuff you're after, give it a go.
A pre-school teacher, 20 Apr 2004
I bought this book for my girlfriend who works in a pre-school
she isfairly new to teaching as she has recently finished her deploma andstarted working, this book provdes some useful ideas to all the staff ather workplace!
Language Development: Activities for Home, 12 Feb 2004
Fantastic resources - easy to use - my son loved them! Really good for enhancing curricular activities at home! Fun to do, easy to do ...... one word...Superb and well recommended to anyone who wants to do their best for their kids!
This popular book ,already on its first reprint, is superb, 28 Nov 2002
Teaching staff, assistants in schools and nurseries are finding this book invaluable. It is a good idea which is fully resourced, simply produced, gives a terms worth of language work for the most needy pupils and above all is fun for both adults and children. How can it be so much fun and so effective at the same time? I'm just glad that it is!
Well worth buying and putting into practice with small groups of 6 to 8 linguistically vulnerable children. The positive effects spread into the classroom.
Educational Excellence, 13 Jun 2002
I have been extremely fortunate to have used the contents of this book within the primary school I worked in. I have seen the children respond so well to this new and dynamic approach. The children and myself got so much from it!
And as a huge bonus to both myself and the children - it was GREAT fun!
A book every aspiring teacher should read., 14 Aug 1999
As a 30-year-old returning to school for teacher certification, I was distressed by the "cooperative learning" techniques currently trumpeted at the university I attend. After several courses in which I was encouraged to "discuss with my group" the objectives being tested (in lieu of a formal review), given "group tests" for final exams (which were also open-book), and being assigned in yet another group to divide up chapters of text and "discuss what was learned" with each other (without any input or insight from the Professor), I began to feel abnormal for being less than enthusiastic about the methods my instructors were promoting. By showing me that I am not alone in my criticism of such shallow techniques, and my desire to teach in a manner that focuses on skills and knowledge, Sykes' book has somewhat eased my disillusionment. What passes for instruction in schools of education across the country is nothing more than theory, rhetoric, and a lot of coddling that insults the intelligence - a simulation of what teaching has become in K-12 schools across the country. Something needs to be done about the schools of education that shape our nation's fledgling teachers, many of whom gobble up this nonsense eagerly, content with easy A's in their education courses and final exams that require little preparation. This book should be required reading on all college campuses where students are prepared to teach in our public schools, in place of the fatuous textbooks we are forced to consume.
Eye Opening!, 13 Jun 1999
I wish I had the money to buy copies of this book for my principal, my supervisor and every member of our school board!
on the nose!, 23 Jan 1999
i was a teaching assistant at ucla for two years and i am currently in my third year of high school teaching in the los angeles unified school district. this book is deadly accurate on all points. i see first-hand every day high school students who can't read without difficulty or who can't read at all. i see students who can't compute simple fractions. and we continue to be forced to spend every "staff development day" working on "student learning standards", which are another name for outcome based standards. this is by day. at night, i take classes at a local university to earn my credential. they are useless and don't help me teach better. the united states is in trouble. i have read this book twice. and i intend to read it at least every other year to remind me that if i conform to these ridiculous outcome based standards, that i will be doing my students a disservice. this is a great, great book.
Sobering and scary, 21 Jan 1999
Charles Sykes lays out a complete and documented indictment of American education as it exists today. However, he does not just whine about the situation he proposes reasonable rational solutions. A wake-up call for all of us.
A terrific synopsis of many of our schools' ills, 09 Jul 1997
This book highlights many of the internal problems in schools today. I believe the author and others like him have already sent a wake up call to educationists. We must remember what the real mission of education is - to teach children, plain and simply.
