Understanding Skills: Thinking, Feeling, and Caring

Dennis Blake is a high-school history teacher with the Halton Board of
Education.

Barrow is a professor of education at Simon Fraser University with an
impressive list of book publications to his credit. This, his nineteenth
publication, reflects not only his international stature but also his
passionate interest in philosophy and education.

Barrow welcomes the reader into this new work with open arms. His major
argument is striking: while the ideal goals of education are embraced by
many, the implementation of those goals in educational practice falls
victim to our society’s materialistic and scientific fervor and is
lost behind fuzzy expression and woolly thought. As befits a
philosophical treatise, the reader is invited to find truth in the
coherence and clarity of the arguments, and not in the indiscriminate
emotions that such topics of discussion might provoke.

To read Barrow can be likened to being invited into the warm,
comfortable study of a noted scholar to discuss and reflect. Especially
recommended for those interested in pedagogy are the chapters on
giftedness, intellectual qualities, and “pedagogical points.” Barrow
entreats the reader with wit and charm to recognize the ways that
language is used to obscure rather than to reveal our understanding of
our beliefs. Although the tone of the discussion is reasonable, the
consequences for a society that is failed by its educational system are
dire. Note the brief but haunting distinction drawn by Barrow between
sophistry and philosophy. This is a book that truly challenges the
reader and belongs deservedly in any thinking person’s library.