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EduCrisis! What To Do When Public Schools Fail

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James Evans has done a wonderful piece in this book. Like his previous writings, this book is well written and simply illustrates the errors of liberal education. The book is well grounded with facts substantiated by footnotes of research. He illustrates the decline of academic standards in public schools. At the same time, he shows the reader the dangerous development of misleading programs in multiculturalism, bilingual education, and illusions of how technology will solve current teaching problems. Moreover, he exposes the system for its real objective that is one of political agenda. Through this agenda, Evans tells the reader how millions of dollars are wasted never to fall within the reach of students and teachers in classrooms. Teacher unions, school administrators, and politicians who have been self serving at the expense of America's children advance this agenda. Overall, Mr. Evans has done a fine piece demonstrating how the product of public education has been a shortfall for exposing children to the very best teachers and resources that they should be prepared with.

Educrisis hits the nail on the head about what is wrong with our schools. Every person running for office who speaks of improving public schools owes this book a read. Mr. Evans leaves no stone unturned. He tells us how bureaucracy and politics are wasting our children's future. This book is carefully researched and put forth in a very logical way. Good job Mr. Evans.

This is a thorough examination of current problems of public education, social, economic and political, with the political covering both local and federal levels. The contents:

Dumbing by Design
Covering Up the Dumbing Down
College High
Gateway to the Underclass
Meltdown
Boyz in the Unlikelihood
Public Loses Faith in Public Schools
Politics is Bad Management
The Tail that Wags the Donkey
The Clintons
Producers vs. Reform
The Payers and the Plays
Fitness to Rule
The Tour
Ownership
Bad Teaching
Unintended Consequences
Shankerism
The Three A's
Beating the Streets--Why Private Schools are Better
Homeschooling
The Truth About School Choice

Dumbing by Design:
"scores in the SAT fell from 492 in 1967 to 466 in 1980. In the late 1970s, when scores for the top 20% began to nose-dive, the purveyors made the SAT easier. In 1995, they extended the time allowed for taking the test, dropping some of the more challenging vocabulary sections, and allowed the use of calculators." (p. 1) "Beginning in 1995, high-school students taking the SAT were given a bonus of about 95 points." ( p. 3)

"Displaying knowledge, even expressing an interest in learning, is so `uncool' that many public-school students knuckle under to peer pressure." (p. 4)

Covering Up the Dumbing Down:
"In most accounts, it was easier to promote the students than deal with their students' learning problems." (p. 7). An entire school district was indicted for tampering with test data. (p. 8). "the mercy grading system. Teachers in high school are giving more A grades than ever--to help their students get into college." (p. 13).

Ownership: "the genital examination of 11 year old girls without the full consent of the girls or the parents . . . parents allege that the semi-hysterical children who begged to be allowed to call their mothers were not allowed to do so." (p. 162).

Bad Teaching: "Education courses . . .consist of slogans and theories. Seldom were students required to demonstrate any proficiency with a core academic subject. A number of courses were mainly political indoctrination." (p. 165).

EduCrisis! should be read by anyone considering having their children "educated" and by anyone who has to pay taxes to "educate" other people's children. Also, if you like to read outside the box and would like to know how the present unimaginably bad situation came about in schools and colleges, read The Rape of Alma Mater. The information in that book is presented in story form, but the facts are accurate.

This is Mr. Evans' second writing endeavor. His first book, Where Liberals Go To Die is the general starting point for this book. It is not, however, a pre-requisite for EduCrisis!.

Mr. Evans puts in plain English what is wrong with America's public schools. More importantly, Mr. Evans gives instructions on how to fix this dreadful situation. After reading this book, the reader will know how to debunk the politically correct double speak that comes out of Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley's mouth, as well as any other public education bureaucrat. The reader will also have the ammunition to ask local school officials hard questions, which will result in getting tossed out by security guards at said meeting. However, it will be worth it knowing that the public school establishment can no longer get away with their sham. The reader will also never go into the local school board meeting being intimidated by public school bureaucrats again.

Lastly, the reader will be introduced to viable alternatives to the local public school and why the education establishment and the Democratic party are fighting tooth and nail to stop those alternatives from seeing the light of day.

If you are truly concerned about the children and the future of the US, then buy this book, read it and most of all, use it. You will not be disappointed and you will be informed.

Other books that serve as excellent companions to Mr. Evans' work are, Inside American Education: The Decline, The Deception, The Dogmas by Dr. Thomas Sowell, and Dumbing Down Our Kids by Charles J. Sykes.

This book adds fuel to the fire making our schools political institutions, where attributes are classified as "right" or "left" and not by their ability to help children. Another short-sighted analysis from the business community who don't understand how people learn and how to teach them. Disappointing.