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Title: The Thread That Runs So True: A Mountain School Teacher Tells His Story
ISBN: 0684719045
Author:
Jesse Stuart
Publicate Date: 1950-01-01
Publish: 1950-01-01
List Price: $15.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $4.59
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.20
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Great teacher and book
This is an older book but still lively for modern readers. Great book on a great teacher.
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2: Wanted to Like It More Than I Did
I really did want to like this book more than I did. I'd actually give it 2 1/2 stars if that was allowed. There were some great stories about Stuart's teaching career, but I couldn't help thinking that in the hands of a more gifted writer this book would have been fantastic. I also thought that some of the conflicts that Mr Stuart describes here were a little too easily, and conveniently solved - to his own advantage, and that left me to wonder if things really happened that way, or if his memory sanitized his own image somewhat. He's not always the hero of his own stories, but he frequently was. He also lost my interest a few times when he went into more detail than was necessary about the running of the school system. I'd definitely recommend it to all those people who have a continued nostalgia for the good old days. In Mr Stuart's world violence seems to be tolerated a lot more than it is today, and sometimes even initiated by adults - the very people in charge of the system. I'm glad I read it, and I would recommend it to others but I would also have to qualify my recommendation.
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3: Teaching in "The Good-Old Days"
Twenty-two years ago (in 1986) I was a freshman in high school. My English teacher assigned The Thread That Runs So True as part of our summer reading. I am now a college professor & I thought that it would be fun to reread the book now that I have classes to teach.
Stuart's book is powerful. He explains the limited circumstances of his Kentucky pupils in a way that makes you think about the lack of opportunities many Americans face. Stuart will also force you to take off your rose-colored glasses about how wonderful things used to be. He recounts stories of students beating up teachers, indifferent administrators, and students literally walking barefoot in the snow to get to school. The good-old days weren't so great.
One of the best aspects of the Thread That Runs So True is that Stuart has tremendous faith in humanity - and in education's ability to improve each of us and our society. He recounts many instances in which students from the most-impoverished families dramatically improved their lives by going to school. Even a cynic will find it difficult not to feel a little inspired by reading this book.
In my opinion, the book is not perfect. Stuart's argument that education funding is the panacea to cure society's ills is dated; we now know that money for education is very important, but that money alone does not always promote student achievement. Also, I don't want to give anything away, but I thought that the ending of the book was very unsatisfying.
While The Thread That Runs So True has a few drawbacks, it is an inspiring story that will teach you a lot about education early in the 20th Century U.S.
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4: Education DNA
This book and story takes the reader into the world of education at the grass roots rural level. From the one room school house with 20 year old students still mired in the first grade to brilliant students from impoverished backgrounds. A terrific review and account of cultural conditions in the 1930's, from the depression to WWII. A must read for educators/teachers. Many of the methods and means used by the author will shock and surprise today's readers, but this is Kentucky in the 1930's. Imagery depicted is fantastic.
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5: autobiography by a great american author
When I was in Junior High I found Jesse Stuart's book "Hie to the Hunters" in the school library. It remains one of the best books I have ever read. Stuart was at the same time a tough man's man and a sensitive poet. His love of the natural beauty of Kentucky and his people shines through in all his writing, as does his toughness, hard work and perseverance. He was born in the hill country of Kentucky to a father who was not literate and a mother who had only completed a few years of grade school, yet he and his brothers and sisters learned the value of education and became school teachers. "The Thread That Runs So True" is the story of his career in education, beginning when he was a 17-year-old teaching a rural one-room school in the 1920s, through stints as a principal and superintendent of schools, and finally as a farmer, author, and lecturer. "The Thread That Runs So True", written in 1949, remains probably his best-known book, but parts of it are almost too painful to read. Stuart's first year of teaching was at a country school where his older sister had been badly beaten up and driven from the school by a tough male student. Stuart wrote poignantly of the beautiful and the ugly in this book, and it is very worthwhile reading.
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