Customer Reviews

The Conspiracy of Ignorance: The Failure of American Public Schools

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Gross provides a decent overview of the reasons why today's public schools are failing us and our nation. Reading this book may very well make you worry about our future competitiveness as a nation. How can any country survive and prosper with such poor education? Worse yet, there appears to be no prospect for major reform as long as education is politicized and focused on "teaching kids to think" as opposed to infusing them with knowledge and facts - the basics needed for critical thinking.

Gross's run-down of our educational ills is complete and has been written about in other books. These ills include poorly trained and poorly achieving teachers; an educational union (the NEA) interested solely in teacher pay and benefits but completely uninterested - actually biased strongly against - rewarding great teachers and developing great students; a strong bias for applying knowledge instead of learning knowledge (how can one apply something one does not have?); lackluster teacher colleges and education degrees that foist poorly trained teachers on our students and a built-in, institutional bias against well trained experts who have bachelors or masters in their fields like math and history.

But Gross has major flaws in his book. First and foremost is poor documentation of his assertions and facts. He includes chapter end-notes, but none of these are numbered or referenced to his actual passages. This results in a major cross-referencing difficulty and actually detracts from his scholarship. If one wants to look further and learn more, or figure out how to be an agent of change, this lack of numbered footnotes makes one's life very difficult.

His other major flaw is his laundry list of proposed changes. All of these changes make sense, but they are political poison and most would be impossible to implement. Gross makes no effort to outline a strategy on how to achieve his recommendations, which wedge issues would be most effective, and which hot buttons should be avoided for now. This is not a book that will foment a revolution.

Better books on this subject are well researched and documented. As follow-ups with more substance I recommend "Inside American Education" by Thomas Sowell (Free Press) and "Dumbing Down our Kids" by Charles Sykes (St. Martin's Press).

As a former educator in the Pennsylvania "system," Mr. Gross has placed into concise, hard-hitting words everything I experienced in three-year sentence at a small high school. As the only math educator with an actual mathematics degree, my opinions were outcast in a department full of union members with simplified education degrees. Mr. Gross could have based his book on our school district alone, and has described exactly what we need ASAP.

Gross may be guilty of an occasional lapse, but the bottom-line truth of the matter is that he is right, right, right. As a professor at major state university, I can attest to the veracity of his claims. The average entering freshman is broadly ignorant: of language, literature, mathematics, science, history, geography and the arts. Grammar is an enigma; spelling a mystery; vocabulary, a shrunken facsimile of what a high school graduate should command. As to "critical thinking," one of the more sacred heffers in the educrat herd, all too many incoming students couldn't reason their way out of a paper bag if their lives hung in the balance. And by the time, they reach college, it's too late.

One point, which Gross omits, merits extended discussion. The same folks who gave gave us the disaster that is K-12 are now in the universities: promoting their ill-founded theories with evangelical fervor; dismissing basic skills as non-essentials; pushing hard for diminished expectations. Paradoxically, they use the fact that "Johnny can't read" to discourage us from demanding that he learn. Neither appeals to fact nor reason, will change their opinions. Only a diminution of their ability to dictate policy will suffice. Yes, indeed, Gross is right. In America's classrooms, the blind are leading those with the potential to see. Shut down the normal schools.

I had the pleasure of reading Gross's book from cover to cover for a book report for my Foundations of Education class this semester (still waiting for my instructor to finish reading his copy so we can compare notes). Gross gets an 85 out of 100 with me on this book. First the positive points:

1. Documentation and statistics. As usual, they do speak louder than anything else. As an education major, I wonder why (for example) we only had ONE developmental math class during my freshmen year (1991)- this semester we had no less than EIGHT - of course, Gross hits it on point, noting that the basics are no longer being taught to our children and by the time they get to high school, they are a legion of abandoned minds. Even in my Methods classes, one of my classmates had problems utilzing a lesson plan in her student teaching because the students didn't know their multiplication tables. I recall my days in 3rd grade (not so long ago) when multiplication was stressed, we memorized the multiplication table from 1-13 and so forth.

2. Gross's analysis of the whole 'phonics vs whole language' debate is the best part of the book. He rightly notes that the primary failure of our students in other subject areas is because they don't learn to read correctly.

I could go on praising the book, but there are some bad points as well.

#1 - the LACK of proper documentation. Gross's statistics and quotes are right on point- it's just that when he quotes something, he doesn't provide a direct footnote or endnote to them- as a result, you have to 'guess' which reference in the endnotes matches up with which quote.

#2 - Throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Gross decries much of the 'developmental psychology' that goes on in many education curriculums, turning the school teacher into a 'psychologist/social worker' instead of instructor. While I am a 'fan' of the teacher teaching content, I am also a fan of the teacher understanding his/her student and what they are going through. Gross names many of the excesses that go on in public education, but does not provide any positive data where some of these same practices have aided the teacher in understanding and therefore, properly instructing the student and producing better students.

To conclude, I believe (as does Gross) that content area needs to be stressed once again both in the training of educators and the education of students at all levels. I disagree with him, however, on the elimination of methods courses. In my review of the book for class (which I will publish online soon-contact me at kerry@zpbstimes.org if interested in reading it), I cite my school's ex-band director as a perfect example of having all the content down perfectly, but not being able to properly teach it. Methods classes are necessary. My personal opinion is that ANY education course of study should be AT LEAST 5 years- 4 years of content area training (just as someone in the regular content area would go) and 1-1.5 years of education courses. Some of Gross's suggestions to 'fix' public education (as another reviewer rightly noted) are unimplementable, but Gross is on the right track indeed.

Anyone interested in what's wrong and what needs to be done with public education should pick up this book. If you're wise, you can easily pick out the bones and keep the rest of the meat. Even if you disagree vehemently with Gross, you'll still benefit from reading this book.

Yikes! Scary, but true--is Martin L. Gross's latest book, "The Conspiracy of Ignorance." [HarperCollins] In his landmark writing Gross goes into battle with the American public education system with but a keen mind for research and his commitment toward the betterment of what he terms, "the Establishment." And he comes up winning, over, and over, and over again. Gross's arguments sit atop all of the fluffy cotton-stack logic that current educational leaders have placed where stone-pillars of knowledge and scholarship once sat prominent. I was particularly compelled concerning what Mr. Gross had to say concerning the current qualifications of today's teachers and his truths in observation of what he terms, "the General Debased Curriculum." Ouch! Sometimes the truth not only hurts, but it bites, gnaws, chews, and repulses. Still, I felt that such up-turnings of the stomach could be read not only toward prescription for the system's proper cure but too toward what such words might offer toward the corraling and aggregation of the men and women capable of implementing Gross's recommendations. To give proper discussion toward the disruption to "the system" that Gross's book is likely to enflame most certainly could spawn another such treaty. But, to not mention certain elements would be derelict--Gross's words just spark and stoke too many worthy fires. I've always held that generally, only, the least capable of men and women that have passed through the doors of academic award--trudge up to the the hiring doors of public education. I've seen this myself year after year as both a chemistry and mathematics instructor [degreed in both fields] within the target range of Gross's words. Gross shows all of what I thought to be true--to in fact--be true. Gross, in his work, in his study--shows that the men and women that instruct our youth only seldom possess the expertise in their subject matter capable of landing them employment in such fields. Concerning this directive--Gross holds no punches nor is he apologetic for his words. If you wish to know the secrets capable of again making the United States a contender concerning the worldwide concern associated with the proper education of youth--read this book. If you are a parent, a student or an educator--read this book. Or as Abbie Hoffman said, "Steal--This Book!" Anyway you can--GET THIS BOOK! NOW! If you are faint-of-heart and or a milquetoast concerning the betterment of public education, or worse--if you are just an average teacher--take two aspirin. Then read this book in the morning!

As I was reading this book, some of the passages I read had me nearly setting the book down to go call my congresspeople. The book's too interesting, though, and I just had to finish it.
Now, I'm torn. I will homeschool my children. That, however, does not exempt me from caring about the education of my neighbor's kids or the kids who will eventually be driving and working and living near me.
So, what do I need to do?
This book offers so many suggestions and demands for improvements that it's easy enough to write them down and mail the list off to your congresspeople. It's not that hard to contact every member of your local school board and recommend these changes be put into effect. A letter to the local school superintendent is a good idea.

Read this book. If you've ever wondered what could be done about the constant news reports of kids not knowing where DC is or not knowing how to do addition without a calculator, read this book. You will be horrified to find what the cause is.
It's not too little money. It's not too little caring.

One note of caution: if your kids are in school now it will scare the stuffings out of you and not in a good way.

Author Martin Gross does an excellent job challenging the educational establishment's claim that poor student performance over the last thirty years is due largely to factors outside of the classroom. In a hard hitting way, Gross articulates that the establishment -- teachers, administrators, and education buearucrats are responsible for low performance, due to their quest with new ideas and the mandate for a growing educational bureaucracy.

I started reading this book while doing research on American class-size reduction policy, and had revealed to me little discussed arguments against current educational policy, as well-as how and why the facts are supressed.

If you question the value of the education your children are recieving, or are interested in the "school choice" debate, you'll probably find it hard to put this book down. Given the straight-forward arguments of Gross, I look forward to reading his other books as well.

The author of this book is absolutely right on in every respect concerning the state of public school education and the preparation of our teachers and adminstrators. I suspected this for years when i was in college observing practices in the school of education though never a part of it thank God! Then the impressions i got from my children's teachers during parent teacher conferences years later. I thought these people seemed ignorant! But I put it out of my mind as most people do. My degree is in a real field so perhaps I am not qualified in judging "professional educators". After reading it all in this book and others I realized that my suspicions were true! As Mr. Gross states, all schools of education should be abolished at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels and prospective teachers required to take real degrees in real fields. Upon graduation they should then be required to take a semester in teaching techniques and one semester internship in student teaching though I don't personally think this is essential. The best math teacher i ever had in high school was a retired electrical engineer! He was not certified by the establishment and probably didn't know anything about educational psychology...he was just good!

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Gross' painfully honest review of today's teachers. It is the first book I have read that portrays today's education professional with realism. Hopefully, more parents will read this book and understand the motives of the Establishment and immediately work to improve the situation in their school systems. I know I am...

Sadly, the state of American education is such that it fails to produce literate much less world class graduates. Efforts on the part of govenment and labor unions have only compounded the problems at great expense of the taxpayer. This book is not for the faint of heart or the one who refuses to look at reality.