Review of Romances with Schools: A Life of Education, written by John L. Goodlad & edited by Stephen J. Goodlad

In Romances with Schools: A Life of Education, educational philosopher, researcher, and reformer John Goodlad walks his readers through the turbulent and recursive history of American educational reform, framed in the context of his rich personal and professional experiences. Less autobiography or memoir, Goodlad presents both philosophical and practical observations, forged in the experiential fires of his life in schools.  Nor is the book a manual for school change.  It is more a mélange of inspirational guidelines, framed by the stimuli of their evolution.  The book was intended, per son Stephen’s prologue, as “another building block, another tool, to help others find their way in this difficult and many-faceted arena of purposeful endeavor that we call education” (p. xviii