Outrageous Questions: Legacy of Bronson Alcott and America's One-Room Schools

This book describes what school was like 150 years ago. It contrasts traditional teaching and discipline with Bronson Alcott's groundbreaking methods. The questions he asked his students in his Conversation on Conscience are included, so readers can respond and compare their answers with what was said in his 1836 classroom. Alcott's techniques of discipline and inductive free inquiry can be successfully applied today. Includes creative suggestions for adults working with children, related activities, original line drawings by John Hartnett, an early drawing of the Temple School, photos of Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth Peabody and Margaret Fuller, a photo legacy of one-room schoolhouses in America, Alcott's 1836 Conversation I, Alcott's Quarter Card of Discipline and Studies for the Spring Term 1836, plus foreward, chronology, biographical and bibliographical references. General audience of adults and children ages eight and up. Particular appeal to teachers and adults working with child