Page 197 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 197
book review
To end with, as put by one of the reviewers, M. Eisenberg, “this book is
a frustrating subject for review. It is praiseworthy and disappointing [...]
scholarly, but hobbled by its patterns of selective attention and language”
(Eisenberg, 2015: p. 290) and, as said in the beginning of this review, very
conventional in its presentation and concepts. Childhood poverty, de-
scribed in this book, is a problem because it reduces productivity and eco-
nomic output, raises health expenditures etc., but it is also a problem be-
cause it is plain simple wrong (naïvely as this may sound). All things said,
Our Kids is an important, empathic book, but often, as I tried to show,
too cautious in its course. It certainly provokes serious debates, and that
might be a good thing.
Valerija Vendramin
References
Apple, M. W. (1993) The Politics of Official Knowledge: Does a National
Curriculum Make Sense?. Teachers College Records 95(2), pp. 222–241.
Cayetano, C. (2016) Robert D. Putnam: Our Kids: The American Dream in
Crisis. Voluntas 27, pp. 1513–1514.
Eisenberg, M. (2015) Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Children,
Youth and Environments 25(2), pp. 290–297.
Haraway, D. (1989) Metaphors into Hardware: Harry Harlow and the Tech-
nologies of Love. In Primate Visions. Gender, Race, and Nature in the
World of Modern Science, pp. 231–243. London and New York: Rout-
ledge.
Singh, S. (2017) http://feministing.com/2017/06/21/missouri-votes-to-let-
employers-fire-people-who-use-birth-control/ (4 July 2017).
Winker, G., and Degele, N. (2011) Intersectionality as Multi-Level Analysis:
Dealing with social inequality. European Journal of Women’s Studies 18
(1), pp. 51–66.
195
To end with, as put by one of the reviewers, M. Eisenberg, “this book is
a frustrating subject for review. It is praiseworthy and disappointing [...]
scholarly, but hobbled by its patterns of selective attention and language”
(Eisenberg, 2015: p. 290) and, as said in the beginning of this review, very
conventional in its presentation and concepts. Childhood poverty, de-
scribed in this book, is a problem because it reduces productivity and eco-
nomic output, raises health expenditures etc., but it is also a problem be-
cause it is plain simple wrong (naïvely as this may sound). All things said,
Our Kids is an important, empathic book, but often, as I tried to show,
too cautious in its course. It certainly provokes serious debates, and that
might be a good thing.
Valerija Vendramin
References
Apple, M. W. (1993) The Politics of Official Knowledge: Does a National
Curriculum Make Sense?. Teachers College Records 95(2), pp. 222–241.
Cayetano, C. (2016) Robert D. Putnam: Our Kids: The American Dream in
Crisis. Voluntas 27, pp. 1513–1514.
Eisenberg, M. (2015) Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. Children,
Youth and Environments 25(2), pp. 290–297.
Haraway, D. (1989) Metaphors into Hardware: Harry Harlow and the Tech-
nologies of Love. In Primate Visions. Gender, Race, and Nature in the
World of Modern Science, pp. 231–243. London and New York: Rout-
ledge.
Singh, S. (2017) http://feministing.com/2017/06/21/missouri-votes-to-let-
employers-fire-people-who-use-birth-control/ (4 July 2017).
Winker, G., and Degele, N. (2011) Intersectionality as Multi-Level Analysis:
Dealing with social inequality. European Journal of Women’s Studies 18
(1), pp. 51–66.
195
