Customer Reviews

Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie to Parents and Betray Our Children

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In this wonderfully fascinating book, author Joel Turtel examines the modern American school system, and finds out just why it is the failure that it is - annually producing graduates that perform below world standards. Moving through the many flaws in the system, the author shows that the system isn't just flawed, it is broken. The system works against the children it is meant to serve, and against the parents who wish to be involved in their children's education. And, all the while it seeks to cover its own dismal failings.

But, this is not just another book throwing bricks at the obviously flunking educational system. Instead, the author ends the book with a section on how parents can work to give their children a quality education, in ways that are both education-effective and cost-effective.

Overall, I think that this is one of the most important books that I have read in a while. It is a damning expose of the American educational establishment, and an excellent clarion call to parents to take their children's education into their own hands. I think that this is a very important book, one that should be read by every parent.

Author Joel Turtel thoroughly educates readers about the condition of public schools in this country. This book is hard-hitting and packs a punch. Yet, the author has been careful to research his facts, and includes extensive footnotes and a bibliography.

Educating our nation's children is everyone's concern. Future leaders are sitting in classrooms today, and it's imperative that they receive a quality education. However, a close inspection of our schools reveals a disturbing and sometimes diabolical condition. From curriculum to corrective measures, the author clearly shows that the nation's education system is not deserving of a passing grade.

This book is divided into two parts, with the first section dealing with the abuses found in today's classrooms. Each chapter slowly and systematically sorts through the facts and fallacies, until readers get a true sense of the education system. The author backs up his opinions with solid statistics, as well as by personal accounts of parents, teachers, and students.

Although all of this information may alternately discourage or enrage readers, the author uses the last section of the book to give clear and practical options for educating children. Home schooling and Internet schools are explored with the same meticulous research that went into the first half of the book. Web sites and teaching materials are listed and critiqued. If anyone is seriously considering either of these educational options, the material presented here will provide a solid introduction.

The author unequivocally equips readers to understand and evaluate the education system, so they can make wise decisions about their children's futures. This reviewer applauds the time and effort it took to bring this book to publication. Most interesting was the idea of education entering a free market system. In fact, the author, who is an education policy analyst, makes several comprehensive suggestions. These pages will certainly open up readers' minds to daring new ideas.

This book gets top grades from this reviewer! -- Joyce Handzo, Christian Book Previews.com

It's ridiculous to think that this book or any others that criticize public schooling are saying that all people working and teaching in the system are bad. Everyone knows there are terrific, dedicated people working in the schools, indeed most of us know some people like that, but they are often hindered by the system and the rules. It's a perfectly legitimate question for discussion whether the 'system' is good, bad, broken, fixable, or should be abolished. John Taylor Gatto is one of those dedicated teachers who greatly deserved the teacher of the year awards he was given, and HE says public schools should be abolished. Indeed, he had success because he didn't conform and do what the 'system' said to.

I am a homeschooling mom of 8 who names all her kids after Bible names, but my main goal is a good education for my kids. With many American parents not sufficiently involved in their kids' lives, homeschooling is an awesome social trend that can only benefit the average family. I'm sure at least one of my kids didn't know much about the civil war at 12, but it's loving to learn, and having the tools of learning that counts. The 3 oldest have gone to college at 16 and done fine, and have been astounded at how much less history is known by the publicly- educated kids in their college classes. I was valedictorian from a private Christian school after attending public school as well, and now have been homeschooling and studying education for 20 years and am quite familiar with the issues and the lack of truly quality education in most public and private schools due to today's weak standards and time- wasting methods. If it's true that standardized tests with all their inherent faults are being dumbed down, how can it be exciting if test scores are up slightly? It just means the tests are easier and /or more kids are doing test prep. Yes some kids are learning much more math, but many are made to feel like failures and have no time to pursue their strengths, and all that math will help them little if they do not go into a math field and don't know enough history to be good citizens.

I have worked with people who are completely brainwashed with the liberal philosophy of government. They just look at you dazed and have no earthly idea why they believe what they do about political issues. They are not thinking liberals who came to their conclusions by thoughtful reasoning, they are statist parrots who have no idea why they think policy X is good and can't conceive of someone having an argument against it. If they had made up their own mind about things, you could have a real conversation with them about it, but they can't defend their ideas, they just assume the whole world agrees with them. Their public schools did not teach them logic, philosophy, how to debate, the constitution, or even the reasoning for their liberal views. That is what scares me. My kids know to test what they believe, how to defend their beliefs, and that truth is knowable and discoverable, and not different for every person.

Thank goodness we promote education for everyone now, including women and blacks, etc, but it is still legitimate to look at colonial education in terms of how well they managed to teach the ones they did choose to educate, compared to how well we do. If the public system does not usually have success with inner city kids and John Taylor Gatto does by ignoring the 'rules and proper methods of education' then maybe we should ignore them too. And regardless of how many wonderful Christians are in the public schools, there is much hostility toward Christianity in the school system. Court cases, NEA, ACLU, the absolute fits thrown if evolutionary assumptions are criticized, students forbidden to exercize their religion, etc. Christians suffer under a multitude of restrictions about what they can say and do while free sex is normalized and eastern meditation is actively taught and promoted. I personally was made fun of by the teachers in elementary public school 30+ years ago for bringing my Bible to school. It was something I wanted to do because of my own faith, not something I was told to do by parents or anyone else. Why did they think it was ok to ridicule a 5th grader about her Bible, when they were not nasty in general?

Many thinking people are totally for learning for everyone, but believe the public schools are more of a problem than a solution. It's a legitimate position that should be argued out. It's not good enough that a monolithic, mind-bogglingly expensive, government- controlled institution that is raising our kids for us does have some success sometimes. The question to ask is, Is it actually good for people? (I don't think any giant institutions ever are, whether religious, business, charitable, medical, educational, or governmental. They are all dehumanizing.) Are the successes truly because of the system or in spite of it? Are there any better and less expensive alternatives? Yes, private schools, charter schools,one room schools, internet classes, formal and informal tutoring-- whether by a trained teacher or anyone with knowledge to share. All run by the teachers and overseen by parents or guardians, and the learners themselves, not the government or the 'experts.' It would be great if all those truly wonderful teachers would quit and start small schools or tutoring businesses of their own instead of supporting the public school system. Local governments could give out vouchers for people below a certain income that were useable for any school or class including college, if we want to support education with tax money. It would be up to each parent and student to vote with their money for the good schools or teacher.

We should look at the big picture here and argue that, not just some of the details. And remember that questioning methods and institutions is not the same as indicting the motives of all the people involved. Even a failing teacher may be there because she cares about kids. But her love cannot change a damaging system that she has no contol over.

In Public Schools, Public Menace, author Joel Turtel unleashes a veritable full-scale assault on America's public school system, calling for nothing less than its complete disbandment. He then proceeds to describe a number of low-cost ways to fill the ensuing educational void. We all know the sad state of our public education system today, but I for one had never taken a step back to look at the whole picture. My own pet issues are political correctness, historical revisionism, and illiteracy, but Turtel shows these important areas of concern to be nothing more than the tip of the iceberg. The heart of the problem is the fact that our children now exist to serve the public school system instead of the public school system existing to serve our children. Turtel is spot on time and again in his descriptions of the many problems with public schools today, and his information on alternate, parent-driven means of education are of great value. If nothing else, parents will be much more aware of their options after reading this book, and that makes it invaluable - even if you don't agree with all of his conclusions. Personally, I would not make any decision based on this one book alone, and Turtel has supplied readers with a great storehouse of additional references. The public school system has obviously degraded a great deal since my younger days, and I don't have any children, yet I now plan on reading much more on the subject of public education - that's how eye-opening this book is.

There are basically two parts to this book. The first part details the problems plaguing public schools today - and they are legion. First and foremost is the fact that significant numbers of high school graduates are functionally illiterate. There is no excuse for this whatsoever. Turtel's resources indicate that the average child can learn reading, writing, and basic arithmetic in one hundred hours, yet far too many young people never learn these skills over the course of twelve years of schooling. This problem has only been exacerbated in recent years by a move toward whole language teaching rather than phonics. What, you ask, are these schools actually teaching our kids, then? In increasing numbers of cases, and we've all heard examples of this on the news, public schools are indoctrinating kids with anti-American, anti-Judeo-Christian, and anti-parent values. Political correctness has run amuck in the public schools, replacing facts with "feelings," immersing children in foreign and pagan religions while forbidding the very mention of Christianity, dumbing down the textbooks, rewriting the history books, sending sixth-grade girls out to drugstores to buy condoms, etc. It just goes on and on. What we are talking about here is a policy of mind control, oftentimes literally with the increasing use of Ritalin among our children. Turtel argues that ADHD is a bogus medical condition - I don't know about that, but I do know that Ritalin (which can have serious side effects) is prescribed for far too many children today. Oftentimes, it's the smarter kids who are bored out of their minds in class because they aren't actually learning anything. What I did not know is the length educators will go to force Ritalin down the throats of any student they choose - to the point of threatening to hold kids back a grade (despite passing grades) or charging parents with child abuse and neglect if they dare resist giving their normal children mind-altering drugs. This, to me, is the scariest, most alarming section of this altogether shocking book.

Basically, Turtel describes a public school system that is increasingly circumventing parents and asserting its own right to shape the mind of every child in America - brainwashing them into a liberal way of thinking while teaching them next to nothing. What is to be done? Turtel's unequivocal answer is to take your children out of public school. In his eyes, the public school system is too far gone to save. Despite large numbers of educators who truly want to educate our kids, the system itself prevents them from succeeding. His solution? A free market educational system that puts all the power in the hands of parents. He has his own answer for the many objections raised by such a plan. For example, he discusses ways in which the poorest of students might be given aid for private schools and spends a considerable length of time extolling the virtues of Internet schools and home-schooling, listing resources that many parents could use to teach their own children. This second part of the book is filled with valuable information that all parents should take a look at. For me, though, Turtel's bold ideas and counter-arguments are born more of passion than empiricism. Maybe I'm just too pessimistic, but Turtel's brave new world can sometimes sound quite utopian in nature, a world where all children want to learn and basically determine what they choose to study, professionals come into homes to teach specific job skills and welcome young apprentices into their businesses, extensive socialization of home-schoolers takes place naturally, etc.

Parents definitely need to take a cold, hard look at the state of public schools in their local area, and this book is a very good place to start your quest for giving your child the best education possible. If you're stuck with sending your child to a failing school, you will learn that you may have options after all. Personally, I don't agree with a number of Turtel's conclusions, but that doesn't take away from the impact this book had on me. Public Schools, Public Menace has definitely inspired me to learn more about the state of America's public schools.

I agree with all that the other reviewers have said and won't repeat it. There is one question though that cries out to be asked: Why? Why are such bizarre things being done to our children? And how did all this come about? There are a number of books that give a piece of the answer to these questions, such as "Who Stole Feminism?" which has chapters on "Transforming the Academy" and "Transforming the Curriculum." To get the whole picture, read While America Sleeps: How Islam, Immigration and Indoctrination Are Destroying America From Within. This book explains exactly what and how and why the schools are as they are. It is not an accident. Nor is it entirely incompetence.

One way or another, Americans must take back the education of children as well as protect them from the miseducation coming from the mass media. With books like these, we can do it!

The book is well documented with footnotes and quotes from others, showing that the facts alleged here are not the imagination of the author.

As important, the book contains resources that parents can use. Turtell points out that homeschooling as usually conceived is not the only alternative to public schools. There are a variety of Internet schools, some of them fully accredited. Some offer direct interaction with the teacher. Some of more structured than others. A few are religion-affiliated. Most are secular.

The author points out that in ALL 50 states parents now have the legal right to educate their children at home. The book provides long lists of various kinds of resources available on the Internet for doing this, including material for preparing for college entrance exams and for applying for admission to college for homeschooled kids.

In Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents And Betray Our Children by education policy analyst Joel Turtel, parents and anyone else with an interest in the state of public education today will discover how ordinary middle-class parents can see that their children receive effective, quality, low-cost education without having to rely on the public school system of their community. Of special interest are Turtel's 22 danger signals that children are being failed by the public education system, and how public schools routinely indoctrinate children with anti-parent, anti-American, and anti-Judeo/Christian values, as well as the problems with peer pressures arising from the influences of a child-exploitive, media driven, secular culture. After revealing why public schools are failing to adequately and properly education students with inadequate curriculums, facilities, or instructional staffs, Turtel presents a variety of practical strategies and educational resources any parent can take advantage of, including Internet schools, home-schooling, and other practical, effective educational alternatives. The message of Public Schools, Public Menace is quite clear, the public school systems are failing the children and failing the communities that finances them. This is critically important reading and a welcome contribution to the national dialogue about America's approach to public education.

The author provides a cogent case that the public school system does not have the best interests at heart for our country's citizens. He documents the history of public schools, their dangerous agenda, and their miserable failure as an education system, as far as basic knowledge and skills are concerned. The author then provides superb strategies for alternative schooling, even for working parents. This is a book I will be sending to my daughter and my son before their babies come of age for the school system. It's not often that a book scores a 100% on our non-fiction rubric evaluation sheet. This one did and therefore scored five hearts.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the education of our children.
This sorely needed book is a wonderful support for a parent like me who was debating whether to home-school our kids. Before reading the book, I had some misgivings about our local public schools. However, after reading this book, I discovered how harmful these schools can be for my kids. I had no idea about the Ritalin drug problems, the stupid anti-phonics reading method, and anti-Christian values taught in public schools, etc. This book gave me the courage and ammunition I needed to get my wife to agree to join me in home-schooling our children.
Harold V.

The review by Harold V. shows why Turtel's
"Public Schools, Public Menace" is marvelous
for parents. Harold V. "got the plot" of the
harm being done his children, shared the book
with his wife, and they decided to homeschool.

Bravo for Turtel! His intent is to help parents in
two ways:

1) "The rest of the story" of why and how public
schools harm their children, and

2) Give parents loads of sources where they can go
to discover the many options they have.

All this, by the way, without getting into the
moral and spiritual concerns that serious Jews,
Catholics, Protestants, LDS, and Muslims have
about the "officially Godless" schools. That
information is plentiful in books such as Bruce
Shortt's "The Harsh Truth about Publics Schools."
Rev. E. Ray Moore's "Let My Children Go," and
Douglas Wilson's "Excused Absence: Should Christian
Kids Leave Public Schools?"

But Turtel's book has a "sin of omission" that
allows the reader to infer that he might support
vouchers, and for this I must deduct a star.

In private discussion with Mr. Turtel, he told me
that he limited his complaint about vouchers being
"too little, too late" to help parents who are concerned
about their children right now to avoid pinning their
hopes on the voucher. Fair enough.

But by failing to express his condemnation of the
tax-funded school voucher as a societal solution to
the public school mess, he inadvertently allows the
reader to fall into a booby trap: Get his children out
now, but go ahead and work politically for vouchers.

He sent me an email with permission to include it in
this review. Here is a relevant excerpt:

"In talking about vouchers from this practical point of view, I did
not go into my views on vouchers in a larger political context. Also,
by making this practical argument, some readers might assume that I
would approve of vouchers if they were immediately available to all
children.

"I want to clarify here that I would not approve of a federal, state,
or even local voucher. My main objection to vouchers is that in the
end, they would turn private schools into public schools, and parents
would be even worse off than they are now in terms of school
choice.

"It is government control of education that has created the public-
school fiasco we see today. If private schools took government
voucher money, then government bureaucrats would soon be
dictating how private schools should educate children.

"After government regulators smothered the independence of
private schools, the quality of education in private schools would
soon be dumbed-down to the level of today's public schools. Once
private schools became like today's public schools, then parents
would really have no school choice. Then if parents wanted to give
their child a decent education, their only escape hatch would be to
homeschool, assuming it wouldn't be outlawed as it is in Germany."

[...]

Public Schools, Public Menace by Joel Turtel is a gem. Written from an educational policy analyst's perspective, this book opens the readers' eyes of how the current public school system deceives parents, cripples the students' reading ability and drugs behavior-challenged students by justifying their actions with the so-called various psychiatric disorders.

Divided into two parts and nine long chapters, this book is more than an advanced analytical piece. It is a guidebook for all parents and educators who place the students' interest above their own. It also includes 22 danger signals from children, which can be easily spotted among today's students.

In the second part, Turtel provides realistic solution to concerned parents in providing a great, low-cost education without being chained in the public school system. He includes a long list of high-quality respectable resources that would help parents achieve this goal.

Contrary to popular belief, American public school system is not the best in the world. Author Joel Turtel showed it to us courageously, so we can make the necessary changes and improvements.[]

A review by Jennie S. Bev of BookReviewClub.com