Customer Reviews

Serving Our Children: Charter School And The Reform Of American Public Education

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kevin Chavous, a council member in Washington, D.C., thinks that charter schools are the answer to America's failing education system. With his eloquent writing style and genuine passion for the topic, "Serving Our Children" offers a unique analysis of one of America's biggest problems. I wonder what the Presidential canidates would think of this book.

Bravo Mr. Chavous! Serving Our Children is a very well written book and definitely got me thinking about our educational system. What I particularly enjoyed was the way the author interwove the human element into his research. I found it very interesting the way he referenced his own background and included interviews with prominent people in the field of education. This aspect of the book allowed me to put a face on the research. Along these same lines, Kevin Chavous earned kudos for admitting to the reader when he felt he had been wrong on certain issues. I found this interesting for two reasons. It allowed the reader to, in a sense, grow along with Kevin on his journey to find what was best for our children, while answering the kinds of objections that the reader him/herself might have. It also demonstrates the high principles with which Mr. Chavous operates--i.e. he is clearly more interested in doing what is best than he is in simply reaffirming his own long held beliefs. All of this makes for an honest and wonderfully interesting book and examination of one of America's most important issues--the education of our children. A+.

Two things anyone should take in to account before cracking this book.

1. Charter schools were not the product of a mass demand by the residents of DC. It was essentially forced on the DC by the Republican dominated Congress. DC public schools have major problems, but that is hardly an excuse to force conservative social experiments on an unwilling population.

2. Councilman Chavous was voted out of office soon after thsi book was published. It seems his constituents were not too hot on his advocacy of charter schools.