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Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution Hardcover – January 1, 2004

by Derrick Jensen (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 104 ratings
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Walking on Water: Reading, Writing and Revolution
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Remember the days of longing for the hands on the classroom clock to move faster? Most of us would say we love to learn, but we hated school. Why is that? What happens to creativity and individuality as we pass through the educational system?

Walking on Water is a startling and provocative look at teaching, writing, creativity, and life by a writer increasingly recognized for his passionate and articulate critique of modern civilization. This time Derrick Jensen brings us into his classroom--whether college or maximum security prison--where he teaches writing. He reveals how schools perpetuate the great illusion that happiness lies outside of ourselves and that learning to please and submit to those in power makes us into lifelong clock-watchers. As a writing teacher Jensen guides his students out of the confines of traditional education to find their own voices, freedom, and creativity.

Jensen's great gift as a teacher and writer is to bring us fully alive at the same moment he is making us confront our losses and count our defeats. It is at the center of Walking on Water, a book that is not only a hard-hitting and sometimes scathing critique of our current educational system and not only a hands-on method for learning how to write, but, like Julia Cameron'sThe Artist's Way, a lesson on how to connect to the core of our creative selves, to the miracle of waking up and arriving breathless (but with dry feet) on the far shore.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    232 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Chelsea Green Pub Co
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1931498482
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1931498487
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Writing teacher Jensen doesn't believe in the traditional grading system, which he calls "a cudgel to bludgeon the unwilling into doing what they don't want to do," so he opts instead to give his students at Eastern Washington University check marks: one check mark for turning in a piece of writing, four for editing that writing into perfection. For this opinionated offering on writing, teaching and the state of the world, Jensen deserves four checkmarks for courage. His ideas are always radical and often inspiring. He rails against the public education system frequently and with refreshing humor, telling students their papers "have to be good enough—interesting enough—that I would rather read them than make love." Drawing on his personal experience, he castigates what he sees as formal education's lack of creativity and flexibility for personal style. Jensen's strength lies in his honest, provocative, passionate approach. The rawness of his ideas is this book's virtue, but it's also its vice. When Jensen makes seemingly random forays into commentary on the demise of the environment or political consciousness (subjects he explored in earlier books like The Culture of Make Believe), his writing becomes long-winded and unfocused. He loses sight of his own seventh rule of writing, which he so dramatically relays to his students: clarity. But more importantly, Jensen's first, second, third and fourth rules of writing are "Don't bore the reader." In that effort, he succeeds masterfully.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Remember the days of longing for the hands on the classroom clock to move faster? Most of us would say we love to learn, but we hated school. Why is that? What happens to creativity and individuality as we pass through the educational system? Walking on Water is a startling and provocative look at teaching, writing, creativity, and life by a writer increasingly recognized for his passionate and articulate critique of modern civilization. This time Derrick Jensen brings us into his classroom--whether college or maximum security prison--where he teaches writing. He reveals how schools perpetuate the great illusion that happiness lies outside of ourselves and that learning to please and submit to those in power makes us into lifelong clock-watchers. As a writing teacher Jensen guides his students out of the confines of traditional education to find their own voices, freedom, and creativity. Jensen's great gift as a teacher and writer is to bring us fully alive at the same moment he is making us confront our losses and count our defeats. It is at the center of Walking on Water, a book that is not only a hard-hitting and sometimes scathing critique of our current educational system and not only a hands-on method for learning how to write, but, like Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, a lesson on how to connect to the core of our creative selves, to the miracle of waking up and arriving breathless (but with dry feet) on the far shore.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chelsea Green Pub Co (January 1, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 232 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1931498482
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1931498487
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 104 ratings

About the author

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Derrick Jensen

Derrick Jensen

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Derrick Jensen is the prize-winning author of A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, Listening to the Land, Strangely Like War, Welcome to the Machine, and Walking on Water. He was one of two finalists for the 2003 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, which cited The Culture of Make Believe as "a passionate and provocative meditation on the nexus of racism, genocide, environmental destruction and corporate malfeasance, where civilization meets its discontents." He is an environmental activist and lives on the coast of northern California.

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

Hannah A.
5.0 out of 5 stars Walking on Water Review
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2011
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I find this book incredibly inspiring because he talks about so many different aspect of the school system that effect our life in the long run. People in the modern day society have to do so many things that are set for them. Such as going to school as soon as we turn 5 and then going to school until we are 18 and we don't have a say in it. The message that I found extremely inspiring in this book was when Jensen asked his students over and over again "Who are you?". He was asking that because he wanted his students to really think about it and think for themselves and analyze what they love to do and who they really are. There are so many people out there that are doing things they don't love to do, and why, just because society is choosing the path for them. When we go to school we are told to go to college after graduating high school and then to get high paying jobs and start a family and do so many things that are set by society. There are also many people out there that are doing the things they love but sometimes are shunned by society because it does not fit the norms. I find this book inspiring because Jensen is really making us look deep into what we really are on earth to do. We are here to do things that we love and follow our hearts and not just sit at a desk listening to a teacher telling us what is right and wrong of society. I hope that people read this book and really think about their life and what they want to come from it because he is very inspiring. Live your life to the fullest and don't regret what you are doing just because you are not doing everything else like everyone else.

I think that teachers and students should most definitely read this book. I am a student and I found it extremely inspiring but I feel that teachers would find this inspiring too, as well as any adult and parents. I think teachers should understand that they have a major impact on their students and should be extremely aware of what information they are putting into their student's heads. As for parents they should be aware of what their students are leaning and are told to do every day by the school system. I feel that parents should have their children go to school to learn something and educate the mind but they should not be set there to be brain washed. I feel that this book is inspiring to almost any person out there because it relates to so many aspects of one's life and mostly because he talks about the well being of one's life.

I recommend this book for anyone of any age so that they can be educated on what really life is about and also to really understand what is being taught in school systems.
2 people found this helpful
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Jillian Stock
4.0 out of 5 stars Response to Walking on Water
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2011
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Throughout Walking on Water, Derrick Jensen provides readers with examples as to why he thinks students are learning the wrong way. Jensen's use of examples strengthens his arguments which makes the book more than just someone rambling. Jensen's main point is to show readers that students are so concerned with pleasing the teacher or some other authority figure, that they are not really learning anything more than how to please authority. When Jensen talks about how students will not show up to class if they are not required to, I thought it was valuable. It further shows just how much students are mainly motivated by grades. This should not be the case. Students should want to learn so they can have more knowledge which will better their lives. As a student, the book made me aware of the problems with the way I learn. I, like most students, memorize information so that when it comes time to test I can tell the teacher exactly what they want to hear. After reading Walking on Water I have realized ways to improve my learning experience. Instead of being concerned with what the teacher will want to hear I focus on the main point of whatever it is I am learning. Although it is hard to change the way I have learned, I feel I am less conscious of grades and more concerned with actually understanding the material. This will allow me to gain more knowledge whereas before I was only learning how to please authority. The ideas provided in the book can also be beneficial to the world if used. By worrying less about grades, students can be free to explore their creativity. With more creativity, new ideas can be thought up, inventions can be created, and talents within students can be discovered all of which can improve the world. Walking on Water offered great ideas which were supported by many examples which made the concepts easier to understand. Although Jensen went a little overboard with details at some parts, I thought the book was very valuable.
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Laura Lopez
5.0 out of 5 stars Learning to think for oneself...
Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
What does the question, "Who am I?" have to do with learning? According to Derrick Jensen, "the only real job of any teacher is to help students find themselves." Using classroom anecdotes in his experience teaching young adults and inmates, reflective prose, bold political commentary, and humorous yet compassionate insights about what it is to be human, Jensen illustrates how self-discovery awakens our inner knowing and ignites the learning process.

Jensen is a skillful storyteller and harsh critic of "industrial education" in which teachers seat their students in neat rows and deliver information that will later be regurgitated, and of modern civilization which, in an analogous manner, seeks to cultivate citizens who fulfill their role dutifully and do what they're told. In Jensen's classroom, however, questioning authority, showing up authentically, exploring creativity and demonstrating respect for self and others are essential; grades, obedience, and "getting the right answers" are not.

"Walking on Water," is not a "how to" guide for teachers, nor, as he admits, is his approach right for everyone. Ultimately this book is a graceful yet urgent call for us all to wake up, think for ourselves, and passionately dedicate our lives to what is meaningful. Similar to Edward Abby's "Desert Solitaire," Jensen reminds us that our planet is in danger and time is short. "In this deathly culture the most revolutionary thing anyone can do is follow one's heart" and guide others to do the same.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Tim Casswell
5.0 out of 5 stars Courageous and inspiring.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
An extraordinary and inspiring book. Reads like one of those classroom films where the teacher transforms the written off lives of the students. Derrick shares his experiences of teaching in college and prison, but his book is more than simply about teaching or writing. It is about the the whole way we see our western culture, our civilisation, our species... he writes with unselfconscious courage challenging our unconscious assumptions.
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