Introducing a new paradigm with which to explore and improve holistic education, Mayes (formerly, Brigham Young Univ.) provides a challenging and stimulating examination of integrative curriculum, which he contrasts with other ways theorists have addressed essential educational issues. He explores various domains of education, providing fresh perspectives on the process of education for teachers and students. Throughout, there is an implicit and, at times, explicit criticism of our current educational system. Of particular note is the final chapter, which stands out for nicely illustrating the thrust of the author's argument as he reflects on his life as an educator. Written in a very different style than the rest of the book, this section exemplifies the discussion in prior chapters, integrating the perspectives of various psychologists and educators into the overall assessment of where education is currently and where it should be. This book requires a certain level of knowledge and sophisticated understanding of the field of education, but it is well worth the time and effort required to appreciate and benefit from the complex and novel methods presented to approach education. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.

Choice Reviews

Mayes is that rare, eccentric genius who has taken a lifetime of painstaking effort to work out in dazzling detail his unique and visionary perspective on curriculum theory. There are so many brilliant insights and ideas here, packed so closely together, this book deserves a careful and patient reading to grasp the structure of his argument and the breadth and depth of his offerings. These ideas form a complex, intricate, elegant, subtle, yet ultimately exhilarating and inspiring system of thought, a cornucopia of reflections and wisdom certain to stimulate the having of wonderful ideas, even for those afraid to venture too far afield for too long. Here is a ‘season of higher-order thinking,’ an exotic voyage of discovery and renewal for the curriculum theorist or the practicing teacher who is suffocating under the dead weight of our current reductionistic, behavioristic and heavily bureaucratized models of curriculum, assessment, and accountability. Here is what an authentic forward-looking commitment to humanism, enlightenment, democracy, intellectual and spiritual culture looks like in curricular form.

Robert Carson, PhD, former department head, Department of Education, Montana State University; creator, The Northern Plains Transition to Teaching MAT Program; author, The "Ourstory" Curriculum