From Publishers Weekly
Veteran teacher Schinzel launches his focused plan to rescue America's failing schools by recalling an administrator's "obtuse," "disturbing" argument that "good teachers do not fail students." From that opening salvo, Schinzel argues convincingly that the concept of the teacher as scholar has been lost, replaced by a more personal, emotional notion of the teacher as therapeutic confidant and self-esteem booster. Schinzel alludes to (but doesn't cite) studies from the first half of the 20th century showing that the primary reason people entered teaching was interest in an academic subject. Studies from the second half of the 20th century, however, indicate that "fondness for children and favorable working conditions" are foremost in teachers' minds. Schinzel advocates a return to academic rigor, by increasing teachers' salaries, eliminating or modifying the teacher certification process (which, he says, fosters "a closed and intolerant society of bureaucrats all hailing from the liberal breeding ground called the college of education"), reducing the size and power of a school district's central office and enforcing meaningful codes of discipline, among other strategies. He fails to analyze broader cultural reasons to explain why America's high schools might not be as demanding as they once were, and he weakens his argument by fixedly attributing the ills of America's schools to administrative bureaucrats (whom he calls "educrats") and their progressive ideas. But still, this is an original and rather contrarian look at public education, and an impassioned call for reform.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
Public education is in trouble. We have been overwhelmed with statistical reports, test scores, speeches and television specials all warning of the dismal state of affairs in our public schools. Unfortunately, the powers that be in education have craftily managed to stymie reform and maintain control of the system, even as it crumbles beneath them.
The Abyss exposes the educational establishment for what it is: a tight-knit organization of arrogant bureaucrats adhering to a failed liberal philosophy that has doomed our public schools. The amount of control that this elite band of bureaucrats has over public education is staggering. Not only do they determine what is taught and how it is taught, they also control who does the teaching by enforcing a system of certification that ensures only those indoctrinated with their liberal ideals make it to the classroom.
By closely examining the people and organizations that make up the public education system, The Abyss presents the reader with an unfiltered view of public schools. While it is apparent that the system is doing real damage to the very students it is supposedly educating, reform is possible, but only if the establishment is overthrown. The Abyss concludes by offering common sense solutions to the many problems created by the educational establishment.
