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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hope for the future of Public Education, September 15, 2007
This review is from: Reclamation: Saving our schools starts from within (Paperback)
As a Parent who will have 3 children in a public school system in the near future, this book was of major interest. Thank goodness my children will not be attending schools that fall into the LAUSD area. Kaufman does a tremendous job of identifying the major problems that have weakened our education system, and the he proceeds to outline changes that would better the system, and ultimately produce a young generation that is more euqipped for the real world.
All material relating to the Teacher's Union are a critical part of the book. My opinion of Unions aside, which is I believe they have out-lived their usefullness, the fact that a Teacher's continued employment is in the hands of Union bylaws is a serious issue an Kaufman lashes out against it. Kaufman put his money where his mouth was - he was willing to have his pay determined by his performance as a Techer. The Union was violently against that - that really scares me.
Without giving away specifc content, because this book needs to be read without any pre-conceived prejudices, Kaufman's arguments are presented well, concise, and his positions clearly state where he stands on a certain issue.
The book also give me hope. Because although Kaufman has left his calling in life that he has a pssion for, I know that there are other Teachers out there who are passionate about their profession as Kaufman was. Hopefully those like Kaufman will read this book and realize that they can no longer sit on the sidelines - that they must become involved to right the ship. And the ultimate hope is that Kaufman himself returns to the Classroom.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Plea For Our Kids, August 2, 2007
This review is from: Reclamation: Saving our schools starts from within (Paperback)
"Reclamation" is one hell of a book. Not only is it full of diagnoses and remedies for the country's dismal public school system, it is a page turner.
A page turner, you ask? How can any book about education reform be enjoyable to read?
I think the reason this book works is because Mr. Kaufman knows of what he speaks. He's not some intellectual at a think tank writing in dry prose about policy. He's been in the trenches and he knows from his own experiences as a teacher in the inner city what works and what doesn't.
What works? Rewarding teachers for doing good work--not for their failures. Inserting competition into what is now a government monopoly. Improving the poor home environments of so many children. Reigning in the power of the teachers unions.
Speaking of unions, that chapter was the most researched and eye-opening of the book. Mr. Kaufman made it clear that those people we most entrust with our kids are often out for themselves. They are also overtly political, as the brainwashing taking place in our classrooms (plenty of examples given in the book) reveals.
Vouchers and merit pay are no longer controversial subjects after reading Mr. Kaufman's arguments in favor of both.
Buy this book. Trust me.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Informative., May 18, 2007
This review is from: Reclamation: Saving our schools starts from within (Paperback)
Well, I must admit up front that I know Ari, or A.J. as he goes by here, but, independent of my personal familiarity, I have to say that he says some very valuable things about education in these pages. Reclamation is a series of reflections regarding Ari's time as a teacher in the Los Angeles Public Schools. Although he was not there for long, he got the most out of his experience. He kept his eyes open and observed some truly amazing events while he was there. There are a great deal of references here that you won't find elsewhere like the part about the bureaucrats coming round to make sure his displays of student work were recent enough and teachers attending an inservice whose topic was "How to Get out of Teaching" as a career. The school assembly with the yoga instructor was also hilarious. Of course, these are the types of laughs that ultimately make us feel sad. Those of us who are intimately aware of the functioning of the public schools will be recognize the coercive mediocrity which Ari describes and enjoy his recollections. My only reservations about the book are that it should have been longer due to its breadth of subject matter, and also that he should have formed a cohesive narrative and not relied so heavily on the individual articles published in the past. Overall though, Reclamation is a solid effort.
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