This book explores the latest research on cognition and its consequences. It looks in depth at the pupils' experiences of school, following many lengthy interviews. It demonstrates that the education system as we have it, despite the best efforts of teachers, has a disastrous effect on the attitudes of young people, and does not even fulfil its own limited aims.

The book explores the themes of the intelligence of children and how they are thwarted from using it: the centrality of relationships with peers and adults other than teachers; the sources of information, especially significant outside school; and the vulnerability to trauma, which schooling is good at exploiting.

The research all points to clear conclusions, which we need to act on, however reluctant we might feel.