Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It - Softcover

The subtitle is the basic premise of this volume. According to the author, the present generation is not receiving the educational foundation needed to foster analytical thought processes. The current trend toward preschool preparedness and the use of such programs as Sesame Street to enhance the child's learning may teach the child to read but fails to develop critical reasoning processes. Today's students have no ability in language-related learning, are inattentive, and are not successful problem solvers. Healy relies on current research findings to support the theory of "plasticity of the brain"--the changeability of the brain in both function and physical size in direct response to environmental and experiential stimuli. The final chapters, offering advice to parents on helping the child to become a critical thinker both at home and in school, make this valuable for public libraries; the excellent bibliography makes this a worthwhile selection for readers knowledgeable in neuropsychology as it pertains to the field of education.
- A.R. Huggins, Memphis State Univ.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Healy draws on recent research in neuropsychology and analyzes educational practices as she seeks reason and remedy for the increasing lack of reading skills among the functionally literate. "Thoughtful and provocative, this advisory offers much to parents regarding the development of their children's reading and critical thinking abilities," said PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.