This Book Is Not Required: An Emotional and Intellectual Survival Manual for Students

This edition of an underground classic marks out new territory in college participatory education. Its purpose remains the same: to encourage students to educate themselves by calling their attention to the college experience as a whole: the personal, social, intellectual, and spiritual demands and opportunities presented by college life. In a personable and refreshingly straightforward style, the authors′ critical discussion of academic life distinguishes between learning the institutional rules of higher education and internalizing those rules, demystifies professors and teaching assistants by discussing their institutional roles and incentives, and invites students to take responsibility for - and make the most of - their educational experiences. New to this edition: " Offers real-life student vignettes that address current issues facing college students " Encourages a participatory college education and personal reflection for students in many different disciplines " Includes three bonus appendices: "For Teachers and Students Using this Book"; "A Primer on ′Buddhist Sociology′ Pioneered by Inge Bell"; and "Short Biographies of the ′Team Bell′ Members"

Table of Contents:
Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Fifth Edition Part I. Academics and Learning 1. Welcome to College 2. Grades: Can You Perform Without the Pressure? 3. Technology and Learning 4. Everybody Hates to Write Part II. Navigating the Institution 5. Support Your Local Teacher: Or the Care and Feeding of Professors 6. An Academic Question 7. Questions of Academic Integrity 8. Wisdom and Knowledge 9. Pursuing Wisdom in the Academy 10. Adventures in Desocialization 11. Media Me Part III. Survival Strategies 12. Survival Skills 13. Love 14. Trouble With Parents 15. The Painful Avenues of Upward Mobility 16. Graduation: What They Forgot to Mention 17. The Career: Friend or Foe? 18. Directing Your Own Development References Index About the Authors About the Contributors: Team Bell

About the Author :
Inge Bell (1930-1996) received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She helped organize the Berkeley/Oakland chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.), an experience that led to the publication of her first book, C.O.R.E.: The Strategy of Non-Violence. She taught sociology at Pitzer College until 1982, and wrote the first edition of This Book Is Not Required in 1985. Bernard McGrane received his Ph.D. from New York University and taught at Vermont College, Colby College, Cuesta Community College, UCLA, Pitzer College, and the University of California, Irvine before accepting his current position at Chapman University. He is the author of Beyond Anthropology, Society and the Other, and The Un-TV and the 10 MPH Car—Experiments in Personal Freedom and Everyday Life. John Gunderson received his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in 2003. John’s work is focused on the belief in the power of passionate teaching, awareness and learning and its ability to transform education and people’s lives. To this end, he has been actively publishing scholarly work and presenting at conferences such as AERA and AME. His published works have been about diverse topics from teaching and learning, school reform, college life and the media.

Review :
"This book SHOULD be required. [The authors] have created a lively, insightful, and tangible source that students can utilize in the classroom and in life. They want to read the book because it speaks to them, and it provides me with a classroom full of hungry, alert minds."