Synopses & Reviews
An expose of the ways in which today's children are being driven ever harder to succeed.
Alissa Quart's deeply disturbing account looks at the intensely competitive and frenzied lives of America's children. Travelling the country and talking to scores of parents, teachers and children she looks at the overhyped world of baby edutainment and 'better baby' early education prorammes, takes the lid off the world of IQ testing and child competitions, and explores the lives of particular children who have been identified as prodigies -- from a four-year-old painter whose works sell for $300,000 to an eight-year-old professional skateboarder who is backed by nine corporate sponsors.
She asks the questions that many parents find themselves asking. Where should parents and teachers draw the line? How do we establish when children are being under-stimulated or over-stretched? And can the hothousing of children lead to irreparable problems later in life? Hothouse Kids is a thought-provoking, often shocking exploration of a subject that is only too worryingly topical.
Review
Utterly fascinating . . . meticulous research and insightful analysis. (A) (Entertainment Weekly)
Review
Quart's message, thoughtful, often eloquent and bracingly frank, injects common sense into the overwrought rhetoric of parenting. (Los Angeles Times)
Synopsis
A devastating indictment of the "gifted child" myth The effort to produce "gifted" children through an exhausting regimen of early (and ever-earlier) training has grown into a troubling national phenomenon. With less free playtime and overwhelming pressure to achieve, the kids are the ones who suffer. Investigative journalist Alissa Quart knows the terrain firsthand, having herself negotiated the gifted- child label. With phenomenal research and sharp insight, she takes a damning look at the industry that profits from marketing educational products to enhance giftedness and questions the correlation between rigorous early enrichment and higher achievement. A thoughtful, sometimes critical look at the excessive ambition foisted upon children, Hothouse Kids is essential reading for parents, teachers, and anyone concerned about education.
About the Author
Alissa Quart is the author of the critically acclaimed Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers. She has written for the New York Times, Salon.com, and other publications.