Grad aims to improve students' thinking

Adam Robinson is not your typical Wharton graduate. He doesn't work on Wall Street and he's not a financial analyst. Instead, Robinson has embarked on what some might call an impossible course – he tries to teach people how to think. To this end, the 1976 Wharton graduate and co-founder of The Princeton Review recently released a book, What Smart Students Know. "I wrote this [book] on a personal level because I am concerned with education standards," Robinson said last night. "It is really meant to be a wake-up call for students." Tackling issues from "how not to take notes" to "what teachers really look for when grading essays," Robinson introduces a system which he calls CyberLearning – a method of self-empowerment for students. Using a process called dialoguing, Robinson leads readers through a series of questions that they should ask themselves about their readings. After posing 12 seemingly unanswerable questions to his readers, Robinson is quick to provide solutions and offer suggestions to students. "Gradually, by organizing and reorganizing information, and by making connections between the new material and what you always know, you build genuine understanding," the book says. Robinson said students are constantly expected to apply thinking skills which they haven't been taught. While football coaches teach quarterbacks how to pass and piano teachers instruct pupils on the basics of performance, educational institutions don't teach students how to think, Robinson said. "Unfortunately most people don't know what it means to think," he added. "I wrote this book to make tangible what the hard work of thinking involves." Robinson's approach is student-oriented. "What Smart Students Know is a manifesto. It urges you to rebel against those who attempt to spoon-feed you an education and force you to learn their way," Robinson states in the book. While at Wharton, Robinson wasn't thinking about teaching people how to learn or how to take tests. In fact, he planned on a career writing novels and screenplays. After graduating from Oxford University Law School in England, though, Robinson saw an opening and filled it. In 1980, he founded The Princeton Review, a company designed to teach students how to master standardized tests. "By our methodology, kids were shooting up 200 points [on the SAT test]," he said. "It was unheard of. We were doubling in size every two months." In 1988, Robinson sold his interest in The Princeton Review and began his new book. Because the book has just been released, Robinson said it is too early to gauge its success. But he has received endorsements from Ernest Boyer president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and John Jacob, president of the National Urban League. Robinson is not even close to calling it quits. Next up on his agenda: forming a company to transform American education. "Each year, half a trillion dollars is spent on education in this country," he said. "It's big business."

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