"This book should be required reading for all who care deeply about the education of our children... It will ask all readers to consider again their beliefs about schools and schooling, what it means, or should mean, to be a teacher or student, and most critically of all, about the fundamental nature of teaching and learning. As we stand poised at the threshold of a new century, this volume will be important for all who believe that 'business as usual' will not work in the schools of the next century." --Carol N. Dixon, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer and Assistant Dean, Graduate School of Education, UCSB


"Awakening Young Minds is really about awakening the minds of any of us interested in reforming education. The provocative and responsible essays in this volume, written by some of the intellectual giants of the last two centuries, raise some enticing issues: myths of education, schools interfering with education, and what's worth knowing, just to name a few. This is an important book for serious students of education, be they professional educators or simply concerned citizens in a democratic society." -W. Dorsey Hammond, Professor, School of Education and Human Services, Oakland University (Michigan)


Denise D. Nessel, Ph.D., has worked as a teacher, a university professor, and a school-district supervisor of curriculum and instruction. She has co-authored four methods books for teachers and has designed and written a variety of print and electronic instructional materials for students. Dr. Nessel currently resides in California and is a senior consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), an education consortium based at Teachers College, Columbia University, whose members are dedicated to improving the way students think and learn.