Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner argue that schools function as instruments of social bureaucracy rather than environments for truth-seeking. They propose a new pedagogy centered on the inquiry method, where teachers replace lectures with questions to build students’ "crap detectors." The authors introduce the concept of the learner as a meaning-maker who must navigate a media-saturated environment by analyzing linguistic filters and hidden assumptions. They advocate for a curriculum based on immediate social problems rather than fragmented, standardized subjects, emphasizing that the process of questioning is the actual content of education.
Teachers and curriculum designers read this book to challenge conventional classroom hierarchies and institutional routines. It appeals to those seeking practical strategies for stimulating critical thought and skepticism in students. Readers obtain a framework for shifting from a transmission-based model of instruction to one based on active intellectual resistance. The text provides specific techniques for questioning and language analysis, leaving the reader with a functional perspective on how to help students identify propaganda and evaluate the relevance of information in their daily lives.
- Published
- 1969
- Language
- EN
