The Pedagodfathers: The Lords of Education

Written under the fictional guise of letters from Professor I. D. Sedah, a university professor at Proletariat University, and Mr. Y. Z. Matthews, a high school classroom teacher, this provocative volume devotes special attention to a selection of beliefs, behaviors and bodies which negatively impact public schools and educator preparation programs, and to a set of defensible alternatives to these counterproductive influences. Questions are raised about such issues as classroom management, teacher-principal relationships, school-university collaboration, the needs of urban schools, the in-service studies of teachers, the preparation of future school administrators, the role of central office personnel and the shortage of teachers of color, among many others. Satire, parody, hyperbole and caricature are employed extensively and the tone shifts dramatically from feigned academic impartiality to impulsive raving through cynical humor to resigned quasi-apathy. The book argues for a variety of interventions, strategies and positions that may lead to significantly different preparation programs and schools.