The Students are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract

Written by Theodore and Nancy Sizer, coprincipals of a high school and veterans in the field of education (he was named dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education at age 32, she trains teachers in the same program), The Students Are Watching is a gentle but tough-minded plea for resetting the moral compass of American education and creating academic institutions "which will nurture our humanity." In high schools, which the authors call "one of America's most ubiquitous intentional communities," teachers and administrations can choose to model values they believe in, or they can slip into the same lazy strategies used by their students to avoid work and responsibility. "They watch us all the time," warn the Sizers, who believe in the profound power of the school system to change children's lives, and offer a wealth of ideas for educators and other adults to create the culture of trust and respect that will change their charges for the better. --Maria Dolan