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A Nation at Risk: The Full Account

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This book is often quoted or referenced in education books published over the last 20 years. This is largely because of what is written on page 5:

"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves."

This book was written in response to direction from the United States Secretary of Education in 1981. One of the main purposes was to access the current state of education in America. Many feared that education was in bad shape, and the Secretary of Education wanted a complete and through investigation. A commission of people involved with education met together, reviewed various reports, held hearings, and then they reported on their findings. This book is their report.

It is a short book; the report is 85 pages and then there are 30 pages of appendices. The most interesting stuff is in chapters 2, and 5 to 7.

The first chapter briefly covers the commission's charter, to investigate the state of education in 1981, and to makes suggestions.

Chapter two is the hard hitting summary of how broken things are in education. This chapter has the above quote. It had a number of scary points. It also had this famous paragraph (page 13):

"Each generation of Americans has outstripped its parents in education, in literacy, and in economic attainment. For the first time in the history of our country, the educational skills of one generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even approach, those of their parents."

Chapter three is pretty boring. It has a list of reports the commission looked at, with a summary for each report. Most of this chapter was Report A studied elementary education. Report B reviewed studies on high school issues. Report C is the results of surveys of students. I'm glad the commission looked at all these reports, but it wasn't all that helpful to read now.

Chapter four is similar, it is a review of all the hearings they had. The hearings were held around the United States, and each hearing had a different focus.

Chapter five reports their findings. And yes, to no ones surprise, education in the early 1980s had lots of problems and issues. The findings are grouped into: content, expectations, time, and teaching.

Chapter six has the recommendations. This is very useful to anyone involved in education today. It is interesting to realize that many of the recommendations were tried, but yet education in America still has lots of problems today.

Chapter seven is a plea for action.


If you are interested in education, this is a good book to read. It is sobering to see that things haven't gotten better. In understanding the state of education now, it is good to see what the state of education was 21 years ago.

So many years have passed!
Students of Education in America still must read this report. It is a classic.
It has been attacked by all quarters yet it still speaks to the time of its writing and many of the concerns of that day remain unresolved.
If some education problems have been explained away, many others have not. It is what it is, and if you are an educator or a taxpayer, I recommend this book.