Product Description

In this little book a fictitious authority on stone-age education presents a series of lectures satirizing educators and education. Professor Peddiwell reports that the three fundamentals taught to youngsters in the paleolithic curriculum were (1) fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands, (2) horse-clubbing, and (3) saber-tooth-tiger-scaring-with-fire. When fish became too agile to catch with the bare hands and horses and tigers disappeared, schools nevertheless went on teaching the old fundamentals for their cultural value. The eventual revolt of the progressive educators against traditional curriculum is described in one of the most entertaining passages in this amusing satire.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #771513 in Books
• Published on: 1959-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 139 pages

Customer Reviews

Witty, Caustic, and Creative Indictment of Academia
This book is in the form of a narrative dialogue between a professor and a former student in a Tijuana bar over the course of a few days. This bar in Tijuanna is the last place the former student (now a failing salesman) expected to find the straight-laced processor slamming tequilla shots and lecturing on the "History of Paleothic Education". The professor's lectures explore the reasons why the education system, generally, and academia, specifically, have failed to innovate and evolve, by spinning an allegorical tale of the history of the educational curriculum in a paleolithic tribe. Funny, witty, entertaining, and a very fast read (I read it in around 3 hours), this book is a must read not only for those in academia, but for anyone that had, or has, to do dogmatic, antiquated, and non-sensical tasks in their school and/or workplace. A true gem

Don't let the 1959 date fool you.
Don't let the 1959 date fool you. Or the reference to curriculum. We have yet to learn and employ the lessons this book provides in education, in the military, in the analysis of clinical trials, and in socal policy. (Aren't we about to build a multi-trillion dollar missile system to keep out knife-wielding terrorists?)

One of the best books on education!
Paleolithic education will still be fashionable in the 21st century if educators of today are not going to do some reflections.