Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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108 of 113 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Harsh Truth About Bruce Short, January 22, 2005
I've known Bruce Shortt for several years. His critics,
and there will be many in the education establishment
when they catch wind of his book, will find the truth
about Bruce hard to take: He is an excellent home schooling
father; from what I can tell, an excellent husband; and
he is certainly an honest researcher into the state of
school-by-government in America today.
Unlike many who carp about "public schools," Bruce does
not believe that if he and his pals could just get in
charge that everything would be OK. He recognizes that
the whole idea of having the government run schools makes
as much sense as having government run factories, farms,
insurance companies, etc.
His critique is not aimed at the PEOPLE in the system.
His critique is about the system itself---that "public
schools" from the beginning were intended to reduce the
role of the family and increase the role of government.
His purpose is not to advise on how to "fix the system."
His advice is to parents: Get your children out of the
system! Home school them if you can. If that's not possible,
find a private school where the textbooks, teachers, and
other parents will be reinforcing what you and your spouse
are teaching your children.
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85 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating book, February 15, 2005
Shortt lauches a broadside at the government school system. Some may recall that Mr Shortt was one of the sponsors of a push to get Christians to pull their children en-masse from the public schools. Although the resoltuin never passed Shortt was added to the long list of enemies of the DOE and NEA.
Shortt fires his broadside with a number of weapons, some from the Christian perspective, but most should be of issue to nay parent concerned about the childrens future.
While you can go about whether schools should exclude religion from the curriculum or not - this argument has proponets on both the Christian and secular sides, Shortt's most powerful criticisms have nothing to do with religion.
In my view the points made by the author are very strong indeed and boil down to basically the schools are "dumbing down" the curriculum, children are bored silly and many have to be drugged ( Ritalin, etc ) in order to put up with the hours of stupifying boredom in the dumbed down classes.
Shortt makes a good case. He argues also that reform efforts are futile since the system is structed in a way that will resist any attempts to reform any thing other than cosmetic features.
There are many fine works on the history of public education, and we don't need to go into them extensively here, but Shortt points out that the current system was modeled after the old Prussian system, Prussian schools considered children to be the property of the state. The state treated them that way. They were taught to be obedient to the state and their main purpose is to advance the interests of the state.
For this goal, real education was unnecessary and even counter to the overall intention of public schools. The author makes a strong case that the US public schools are designed exactly in this format.
It certainly explains the current level of literacy in the country. Some states even keep statistics on the illiteracy rate of high school graduates!
This was only the case here in the country AFTER the adoption and evolution of the public schools to it's current form. Many argue that public schools are a failure. Shortt seesm to present the argument that they are accomplishing exactly what they are designed to do: mold the children into willing consumers of the products of big business and obedient servants of government.
The aims of state schools were to transform thinking, highly individualistic and very literate citizens into an unthinking, collectivized mass. The slow but steady decline in literacy of all kinds was a by-product. I have to agree, that is what they are designed to do are succeeding.
Shortt points out that , "The truth is harsh, but simple. Those who control government schools want your children and they want your money. They don't want you sticking your nose into what they consider their business ... " (p. 323).
Shortt's recommendation: vote with your feet. Shortt has an plethora of reasons why Christians ought to homeschool their children or place them in private Christians schools. His arguments ought to be listened to by non-Christians. The dysfunction that has fallen over government-sponsored education, after all, affects Christian and non-Christian children alike.
The truth be known, homeschooled children excel over their public educated couterparts by a wide margin. Most hoemschooled chilren at at least 4 grade levels above their public educated friends.
As Philosopher Stevn Yates points out:
"The "harsh truth about public schools" is that they are an enemy not just of Christianity but of academics, personal and intellectual independence, and even children's safety.
They cannot educate, which is unsurprising since over the past couple of decades their focus has been on inculcating political correctness and teaching job skills ... Their aim has not been education but the production of desirable forms of mass behavior. The government-sponsored educational system is thus the major contributor to the dumbing down of the country."
All parents and not merely Christians owe it to their children to read this book.
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thank You Bruce Shortt!, January 25, 2005
When you begin reading The Harsh Truth About Public Schools four words will come to your mind: "Thank you Bruce Shortt!" The reason for this is that this courageous Texas attorney unmasks the deceptive veil of public schools and provides explicitly clear biblical reasons to end your association with them n-o-w!
There are eight chapters and nearly one thousand endnotes of information to share with your friends who have not yet decided to exit the government schools. In addition to "outing" the curriculum (and the unbiblical reasons behind it) Shortt takes apart the ten most common objections people voice about exiting their children, such as:
o Our school is different
o My child is "salt and light"
o Our school has some Christian teachers
o What about my child's social skills?
o I went to public schools and turned out fine
Perhaps no objection more epitomizes the reason to exit public schools than the one that states: "I turned out fine." Implicit in this rationalization is the idea that "there is nothing wrong with my worldview, since I think about today's issues the same as other Christians." Yet, research shows that less than one in ten adults has a Christian worldview. This means that if your view of the world and current events mirrors the views of "most everyone else," your worldview is in serious need of help
Shortt also includes valuable information to assist you make the decision on whether to home school or use Christian day schools.
If you haven't made the decision to exit your children (and maybe even yourself) from public schools, get a copy of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools today.
May we all say, "Thank you Bruce Shortt!" for providing this most excellent and timely resource.
Buddy Hanson, President, Christian Policy Network
bhanson@graceandlaw.com
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