Poisoned Apple. - Review - book review

School Administrator, March, 1996 by Christine S. Ejlali

"If you want truly to understand something, try to change it," says Kurt Lewin, founder of field psychology.

His comment captures the essence of Betty Wallace and William Graves' book, Poisoned Apple: The Bell Curve Crisis and How Our Schools Create Mediocrity and Failure, which addresses in depth the historical evolution of the bell curve syndrome. They describe how the bell curve perpetuates educational inequity in American schools, offer examples of innovative non-traditional instructional systems that counter the syndrome, and provide a case study of Wallace's personal experience in implementing change as a superintendent in rural Vance County, N.C.

The authors propose to replace the bell curve system of instruction, which focuses on grades, grade levels, and norm-referenced testing, with a method they call "guided learning," which reflects current research on motivation, achievement, and student learning. By incorporating elements of similar school restructuring proposals, their plan offers a prescription for change that could be implemented nationwide.

Poisoned Apple presents a glimpse of what the future holds, the methods for achieving it, and the inspiration to pursue it.

(Poisoned Apple: The Bell Curve Crisis and How Our Schools Create Mediocrity and Failure, by Betty Wallace and William Graves, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010, 1995, 336 pp. with index, $22.95 hardcover)