# The Open-Classroom Reader Charles E. Silberman, Editor **URL:** **By** William Danks **Published:** February 1, 1974 --- “Where are the books on the other side—the books that show how better results can be achieved?” Over three years ago Charles E. Silberman published his now famous _Crisis in the Classroom_. The book was a blistering and detailed attack on the American educational system. It sold over 300,000 copies. Now, Silberman returns with a giant reader devoted to a more positive subject—ways in which education can be made worthwhile, exciting, creative, imaginative, useful and fun. Billed as the companion volume to _Crisis in the Classroom_, the present work is quite capable of standing on its own as a contribution towards effective educational theory _and_ practice. _The Open-Classroom Reader_ consists of sixty-five separate articles by many different writers of varying viewpoints, including one piece by Silberman himself and several by his wife Arlene (among the most interesting, informative and charmingly written in the book). As might be expected with this format, the quality of the articles is uneven. Some are just fair, others are excellent. But I think there are predominantly more of the latter. Tying the selections together is a most useful running commentary by Silberman, placing each in the context of the “open classroom/open education” theme. In an effective, if unintentional, attack on the theory-practice dichotomy, Silberman combines _both_ theoretical _and_ methodological aspects in each section, so that the selections presented complement and balance each other. He adopts the common sense attitude that neither theory alone, nor simply descriptive articles devoted to practical classroom techniques, offer enough of value. But together, in carefully chosen combination, they constitute a truly _workable_ educational package. The book is supposedly for teachers, students, administrators and parents. So it is, but even more it is for all people interested in the contemporary educational scene, with its political and economic antecedents. Silberman’s approach to educational philosophy is basically (if not always consistently) libertarian and individualistic: “the major purpose of education should be to educate educators, which is to say, to turn out men and women who are able to educate themselves—men and women who have the desire and the capacity to take responsibility for their own education and who are likely, therefore, to be life-long, self-directed learners.” The book is organized into four parts: “Overview of Practice,” “The Reason Why,” “The Role of the Teacher” and “Curriculum.” Silberman explains that the reader begins with the concrete first, then moves on to the abstract and theoretical. “Since most Americans have never seen an open classroom—their experiences as students and as teachers having been confined to traditional, formal classrooms—Part One presents a number of selections describing what open classrooms look like and sound like, and how they are organized, what a typical student’s day may be like, and what a typical teacher’s day may be like.” Part Two presents the views of open-educators on both the aims and purposes of education and on the nature of childhood (included here is Arlene Silberman’s helpful contribution, “What Should Parents Look for in Their Children’s School?”). Part Three shows ways in which teachers are actually _more_ active in open classrooms than in traditional ones. Part Four concentrates on the integration of separate components into the unified curriculum and has chapters on mathematics, science and the arts, as well as reading, writing and language development. Critics of books such as Silberman’s _Crisis in the Classroom_ often complain that although these books _are_ accurate in their criticism, they are too one-sided and negative. Where, the critics ask, are the answers? Where are the _solutions_ to the problems that have been so skillfully exposed? Where are the books on the other side—the books that show _how_ better results can be achieved? In _The Open-Classroom Reader_, Silberman _shows_ them where. Highly recommended. _Reviewed by William Danks / Education (789 pages, indexed) / BFL Price $2.95_