"A conversation with the master.... Filled with keen observation, enlightening anecdotes, and some delicious gossip."
–Murray Levine, Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, SUNY at Buffalo

"A master at his craft, Seymour Sarason once again weaves together history, social science, educational trends, and dazzling personal insights to illuminate the larger contexts limiting psychology and education."
–Kenneth I. Maton, Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Why has mainstream psychology had little or nothing to offer about tragic incidences of school violence such as the Columbine High School tragedy? Why is there mostly silence from this important profession while debates about school testing rage on?

Dr. Sarason pulls no punches in this searing critique of American psychology and its current and historical disinterest in our schools. This book explains why psychology’s continued aloofness impoverishes the field and prevents it from capitalizing upon its potential to serve the public welfare. He describes how, after World War II, American psychology took steps to respond to societal needs but rebuffed efforts to include the improvement of schools.

Bringing his discussion completely up-to-date, Dr. Sarason includes two extended chapters about the Columbine incident — why psychologists offered few conclusions concerning what those killings signified about schools in general and high schools in particular. He also criticizes test developers for their failure to seek and prevent school personnel from interpreting and using tests in ways that negatively affect students. As readers might expect, Dr. Sarason gets right to the heart of the matter in this powerful depiction of all that psychology can but declines to do for our schools.