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Ed School Follies: The Miseducation of America's Teachers

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When I was teaching at a major university I was shocked at how ill-prepared the incoming students were. After meeting faculty and graduates of our school of education, I was equally shocked- but I began to understand.

Kramer shows through example how the inmates have taken over the asylum in too many of today's schools of education. Run by people with little academic depth, and having degrees from other diploma-mill Ed schools, today's typical school of education is a sociological program run amuck. Priority is given to vacuuous notions of instilling self-worth while teaching content is thought to be of secondary importance- if it's given any thought at all.

The education industry today is more of a closed shop than the auto industry. You can't teach in public schools without an Ed degree, but no spoecialized knowledge is needed at all. Gym teachers can teach physics, but PhDs cannot. Read this book.

Welcome to the place where torturers are trained and weeded out!This book is first step in finding an answer to the pathetic state of today's educational system. What are teachers taught? What is the criteria for determining a good teacher from a bad teacher? Or do they even try? Who decides this, and how? Ms. Kramer gives you the raw data to answer these questions yourself. The reader sits in on Teacher Ed classrooms with Ms. Kramer from the east coast to the west coast. You stop at the elite and exclusive schools, such as Columbia University's Teacher's School and Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, as well as the schools that simply churn out teachers in mass, such as Eastern Michigan University. The book gives readers a general survey of what happens in Ed Schools in the U.S. It is an initial look at the crime scene. Many other questions will arise pertaining to the causes of the observed corruptions, but these would be material for other books. Although Ms. Kramer does let her disapproval be known throughout the book, so did she when she chose a title. She would be an accessory to the crime if she didn't voice her disapproval. Thus, contrary to some other reviewer's opinions, I applaud Ms. Kramer for letting her evaluation of the facts be known -- its high time!On a personal note: As one who has been through a Teacher Ed program, this reviewer does not believe that the events have been exagerated in any way. My school was NOT one of those surveyed, but reading this was like a deja vu experience for me. This actually happens!

Other books tell about the bizarre premises, concepts and methods in schools today. But where on earth do these ideas come from? And why do administrators and teachers believe this stuff? The short answer is: ed schools. Rather than being a model of scholarship, today's ed schools waste away time with endless prattle about theories and philosophies. Rita Kramer toured the country, spending a good deal of time at each of a number of ed schools. She visited prestigious eastern schools, mainstream schools, and everything in between. Kramer reports on everything she saw: vapid looks of the students, meaningless classroom activities, faculty members who loathe the very same goals that most people expect from schools, and grades, assessments and final degress devoid of any substantive value. This book tells a vital part of the story in understanding what's wrong with our schools. I can't think of a better book recommendation for a young person considering ed school, a student in ed school, or a teacher who is trying to figure out why the time spent in ed school has so little to do with his or her classroom success. It's not really out-of-print, so if you can't get it at Amazon, try a print-on-demand service.

I enjoyed reading Rita Kramer's first-hand account of what our future teachers are learning. Although she is not dispassionate, she is absolutely well-informed about the travesty that passes for "education" in the "ed schools." Future teachers are indoctrinated, not educated, and that is the major reason for most of our problems in education today. If you care about improving schools, and if you are worried about your own child's education, READ THIS BOOK!

Just to set the record straight, the only sensationalism in Rita Kramer's book is her title. Otherwise, it's formal reporting of the kind you would read in Time. She traveled to lots of schools, attended lots of classes, conducted lots of interviews. She's quite professional and even deferential.

The problem for educators is the picture that emerges. If you know nothing about American education, you might be stunned to find that ed schools are places where academic content is rarely mentioned, and students are trained to be social workers and baby sitters, not teachers as traditionally understood. Psychobabble is the air they breathe; mediocrity is their goal. Social engineering could mean making people smarter, couldn't it?? In our country, however, it means leveling everyone down to C-.

Written in 1991 when Whole Word was still dominant, one ed school professor tells her students: "Tell them to spell, not sound it out. Watch `em, they will. Eventually they'll trust you and they'll learn to read." I mention this in case you ever wondered why teachers can be so loyal to ideas that don't work. Here's why: ed school professors.

A century ago, John Dewey laid out a secret scheme whereby ed schools would be used to indoctrinate teachers and thus bring about social change. The scheme continues. All unnecessary; all wasteful; all destructive. Teachers don't need ed school. (Better they take a course at Toastmasters.) Private schools and parochial schools merely require that prospective teachers be expert in the subjects they'll teach. What a concept!

If you ever wanted a justification for home schooling and vouchers you will find it here. We college professors perpetually discuss the poor preparation of US students. Without foreign graduate students this nation would be a basket case. Little did we know that we were the problem. Fortunately left wing ideology has minimal impact on most college graduates once they get a job, so most teachers are not sympathetic to what they got crammed down their throats in Ed School. Nevertheless, Union power + case law + school policy have ham-strung the reformers.