Quiet Classrooms, Educational Soundscapes, and the Power of Silence

"In this book, Pieter Verstraete provides a long-needed history of silence in classrooms. Does silence facilitate learning or enforce discipline? Does it support the shy student or suppress the extravert? Is a noisy classroom a joyous expression of educational engagement or an impenetrable barrier to order and thought? The book’s answer to these questions is: yes. It turns out that silence provides a clear window into the multiple and conflicting aims that educators have sought to accomplish in classrooms over the years."

- David F. Labaree, retired Professor of Education, Stanford University, USA

"This book throws a new light on silence in schools, a theme that has been a concern of educators for several centuries but that has been scarcely conceptualized. It brings to the fore some figures and practices such as shy children and silent reading that are worth interrogating, and succeeds in connecting present educational and historiographical debates in meaningful ways. Moreover, this book provides a methodology for studying schools as acoustic or sound spaces in ways that will be useful for researchers and teachers as well."

- Professor Ines Dussel, full-time researcher, Department of Educational Research, CINVESTAV, Mexico

"‘Silence,’ as Pieter Verstraete writes, ‘is ubiquitous in the history of education.’ It may be everywhere, but to understand its complex educational history it is necessary to listen to silence and this is what Verstraete’s book offers the reader. A listening journey where we encounter silent practices across time, enter silent spaces, hear the voices of pedagogues and above all track the child’s experiences of silence and education. In sum, the book is both an excellent addition to the ever-growing corpus of sensory history and at the same time addresses pedagogical gaps in the history of education."

- Professor Ian Grosvenor, Emeritus Professor of Urban Education History, University of Birmigham, UK

"Pieter Verstraete’s new book on the fascinating history of silence in the history of education poses uniquely consequential questions for the past as well as for the “here and now.” Surveying the meanings attached to silence in educational spaces, beginning with 17th century efforts to evoke classroom silence as a measure of discipline and control to the 20th century pathologization of the “silent, shy, child,” Verstraete enhances significantly our understanding of silence as an educational phenomenon. Uncovering the many educational goals attached to silence over the centuries, Quiet Classrooms, Educational Soundscapes, and the Power of Silence: Towards an Acoustic History of Education, enables us to see both the connections with, and breaks from, our current concerns for the next generation of “ear-budded” learners. A must read for historians of education, children, youth, and beyond."

- Professor Mona Gleason, Professor in the Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada

"In this book, Pieter Verstraete provides a long-needed history of silence in classrooms. Does silence facilitate learning or enforce discipline? Does it support the shy student or suppress the extravert? Is a noisy classroom a joyous expression of educational engagement or an impenetrable barrier to order and thought? The book’s answer to these questions is: yes. It turns out that silence provides a clear window into the multiple and conflicting aims that educators have sought to accomplish in classrooms over the years."

- David F. Labaree, retired Professor of Education, Stanford University, USA

"This book throws a new light on silence in schools, a theme that has been a concern of educators for several centuries but that has been scarcely conceptualized. It brings to the fore some figures and practices such as shy children and silent reading that are worth interrogating, and succeeds in connecting present educational and historiographical debates in meaningful ways. Moreover, this book provides a methodology for studying schools as acoustic or sound spaces in ways that will be useful for researchers and teachers as well."

- Professor Ines Dussel, full-time researcher, Department of Educational Research, CINVESTAV, Mexico

"‘Silence,’ as Pieter Verstraete writes, ‘is ubiquitous in the history of education.’ It may be everywhere, but to understand its complex educational history it is necessary to listen to silence and this is what Verstraete’s book offers the reader. A listening journey where we encounter silent practices across time, enter silent spaces, hear the voices of pedagogues and above all track the child’s experiences of silence and education. In sum, the book is both an excellent addition to the ever-growing corpus of sensory history and at the same time addresses pedagogical gaps in the history of education."

- Professor Ian Grosvenor, Emeritus Professor of Urban Education History, University of Birmigham, UK

"Pieter Verstraete’s new book on the fascinating history of silence in the history of education poses uniquely consequential questions for the past as well as for the “here and now.” Surveying the meanings attached to silence in educational spaces, beginning with 17th century efforts to evoke classroom silence as a measure of discipline and control to the 20th century pathologization of the “silent, shy, child,” Verstraete enhances significantly our understanding of silence as an educational phenomenon. Uncovering the many educational goals attached to silence over the centuries, Quiet Classrooms, Educational Soundscapes, and the Power of Silence: Towards an Acoustic History of Education, enables us to see both the connections with, and breaks from, our current concerns for the next generation of “ear-budded” learners. A must read for historians of education, children, youth, and beyond."

- Professor Mona Gleason, Professor in the Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada