Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education [Hardcover]

Joe Williams (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 140396839X | ISBN-13: 978-1403968395 | Publication Date: September 15, 2005

Journalist Joe Williams shows how parents can use consumer power to put children first, shining light on the special interests controlling our schools, where politics and pork infuse everything and our children's education is compromised, . He argues that increased accountability and choice are necessary, and shows how the people can take back the education system, enhancing responsibility inherent in democracy. The solution is a new brand of hardball politics that demands competence from school leaders and shifts the power away from bureaucrats and union leaders to the people who have a the greatest reason to put kids first: concerned parents. With practical steps and uplifting examples of success, this is a manifesto to action.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As an education reporter for the New York Daily News and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Williams has the dirt on some of the nation's largest public school systems, and in this book, part scathing expose and part call-to-action, Williams paints a bleak picture before shifting into a discussion about remedying the many problems he details, from systems that treat parents and students as antagonists to unprepared and inexperienced teachers and administrators. In the first part of the book, Williams overwhelms with a string of horrifying and scandalous tales of school mismanagement, piling them on to the point where they begin to lose their impact. The book takes a turn when Williams discusses the ways parents, teachers, administrators, politicians and the business sector can work together to remedy our failing schools. From New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's efforts to control schools from the top down, to Mothers on the Move's struggle against corruption in their South Bronx school district, Williams does a fantastic job chronicling events and ideas as well as capturing the people on both sides of the issues. In particular, his extended analysis of the battle over school vouchers in Milwaukee is a riveting tale of corruption toppled by community activism. Although the primary audience will be parents of school-age children, anyone interested in education would benefit from reading it, whether or not they agree with Williams' judgments.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Williams, education reporter with the New York Daily News, examines how school policies shortchange children in favor of adult interests in jobs, wages, and contracts. Drawing on a decade of reporting on public schools in New York and Milwaukee, Williams explains how unions, politicians, vendors, and consultants waste and mismanage funds meant to improve education. He also outlines the role of teachers' unions and political parties in operating school systems and how mindless bureaucracy alienates parents and distracts teachers from their primary roles. He details how unions have prevented parent volunteers from pulling weeds, how a valedictorian who criticized the school in her graduation speech was denied her diploma until she apologized, how a computer company was forced to withdraw hardware donations after bureaucratic rules prevented effective use of the computers. Williams does salute exceptional educators and parents who make heroic efforts on behalf of children but notes that they are exceptions to the rule. He concludes with reform efforts that have worked, including a Milwaukee program that features limited use of school vouchers and mini school districts. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140396839X
• ISBN-13: 978-1403968395
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,256,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT book!, September 30, 2005

By 

Whitney R. Tilson "WTilson" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Williams's book and HIGHLY recommend it. In it, he exposes in great detail the many outrageous ways that our public school system is controlled by adults and run for their benefit, rather than the children. It's infuriating, yet also hopeful, as he shows how Milwaukee's parents were able to win enormous changes, and outlines a guidebook for parents and activists everywhere.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth to Power, September 23, 2007

By 

Michael Piscal - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education (Hardcover)

Trying to find how school districts work is difficult. Transparency is hard to come by and this is deliberately so. Joe Williams breaks down the wall of obfuscation, the lies, and tells it like it is. My only regret is that he does not site more examples of the corruption that goes on in building new schools.

Los Angeles Unified School District is in the midst of a $19 billion school construction project - the largest in U.S. History. Precious little has been written about this monumental and historical occurence. I fear that the Fourth Estate is not up to the task of protecting the public. What editor would allow a reporter to spend months researching the byzantine passages of public construction bids, self-dealing, and the intracacies of change orders? It would win a Pulitzer if done right, but the economics of the newspaper business make it a remote possibility. Many reporters have to produce three to four stories a week! How can they dive into the five hundred layers of confusion in two days and write a credible story? Even if they spent three months, they would barely tap the surface.

That's why Joe Williams book is so important. It is an amazing start.
I just bought 12 copies of this book for my parent leaders.

23 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A deserved kick in the shins to teachers unions, October 28, 2005

By 

R. M. Self (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education (Hardcover)

Teachers unions, as most informed citizens know, have done more to damage schools in the last 50 years than any other entity. These groups raely if ever put kids first, instead installing a system where it is next to impossible to fire teachers while convincing vast chunks of the general public that hard luck teachers are somehow underpaid (ha!). Bravo to this illuminating work!