Intentional Learning For College Success (Ashford University “Orientation” Course)

Text: Intentional Learning for College Success (pub. Pearson Education, LLC)

Authors: Christine A Johnston, EdD; Jeffrey Hall, EdD

This text has two strikes against it right out of the starting gate. The first is the fact that it is published by Pearson Education, LLC. Pearson texts and tests, by design, are deeply flawed from an educator’s standpoint and this text is no different. The second strike against this text is two fold. The most obvious is the fact that this text is written, in part, by an alumni of the very “college” that uses it. the other is not so obvious.

Let me explain. Anyone who knows the scientific process knows that the object of research is to find the truth, not to support personally held assumptions. You do not set out with your mind made up. Manipulation of data is a no no in science, medicine, or even education. This manipulation causes false positives. False positives create false conclusions.

The authors of this text set out with all the answers they wanted to find, creating a false conclusion that fit their need to make money in trying to sell a good book. As a work of fiction, this tops anything I have ever read. The problem is that this is not supposed to be a work  of fiction. This is supposed to be an educational text.

With misconceptions and stereotypes to support their theory that “all students are taught wrong”, Miss Johnston and Mr. Hall intentionally set out to demoralize and dumb down the prospective student with Common Core reading and writing principles that make no sense and create a major problem when taking the “quizzes”  because, if you follow the text, you are sure to get an ‘F’ but not following the text and just making up answers (what I like to refer to as “Bull Shitting”)  will garner you a passing grade. Ironic that a text that is supposed to teach, and its corresponding quizzes, do nothing of the sort.

With so many children being “just passed through school”, and so many frustrated first year college students dropping from their prospective colleges, one would think that  would-be educators would be spending their time trying to find out why half the world is light-years ahead of us in education instead of making the same tired and faulty assumptions that it is the students or other teachers’ methods of teaching.

Half the vocabulary in this book used to describe  are wrongly used or have the exact opposite definition than what the authors give them. The rest is lies, misconceptions about learning, biased observations, and twisted half truths. If I were a student seeking a college, I would steer clear of any that uses texts written or co-written by alumni. I would also avoid any school that uses texts or precepts taught by Dr. Christine A. Johnston.

In conclusion, is this book really about education? No. Is it about demeaning teachers, their teaching methods, and students? Yes. I was appalled at the disaster that is this text. As an author, I am offended by what the authors of this book called “intentional learning for college success”. Never before, in my life , did I ever believe I would read or listen to something so profoundly arrogant and wrong.