50 MYTHS and LIES That Threaten America’s Public Schools attempts to address a wide range of issues the authors believe are distracting us from making effective, positive changes in our educational system. The 50 arguments are spread across 5 sections addressing:
1) Myths about comparing educational systems internationally
2) Myths about teachers and the teaching profession
3) Myths about how to improve schools
4) Myths about how the education system is funded
5) Myths about college and career preparation
The book's collective of writers is composed of 21 individuals and "hundreds of years of experience" across three generations; quite an impressive resume! The tone of authority is immediate and required to justify their use of unavailable statistical data and cherry picked case studies. They assure you that right wing propaganda is the biggest threat to our society, going so far as to say,
“On one side are the forces of corporate America seeking to gain a share of the billions of dollars expended annually in support of K–12 education. Enlisted in their cause are the American Legislative Exchange Council, hundreds of conservative politicians, and a network of Right-wing think tanks. On the opposing side stand thousands of academic scholars, scholars-in-training in our universities, and practicing teachers. We stand unapologetically with the latter groups.”
I found most of their arguments to be one sided, arrogant, and self righteous. Another quote,
“it is not our schools or our children but rather the anxiety-charged myth of an education crisis that is broken and needs to be fixed.”
Admittedly, I recognize that most of this is probably appropriate given their objectives. The intentions of the book are better served by leaving out grey area and I respect that they are so transparent about their bias.
Having said that, there is a lot of useful and accurate information in the book if read with an open perspective. I definitely have a better understanding of the politics in education. I am much more aware of how much corruption permeates many of the proposed solutions to our school system. The book is incredibly effective at raising awareness about the social and racial inequality plaguing our society. It does a great job of pointing out all of the failings in proposed reform.
My main grievance is that I didn't find any solutions in the book. The authors are content to say that our education system functions well enough as it is and almost all proposed reforms are only empowering greedy capitalists. This view is way too narrow minded. They dismiss far too much of what is wrong with schools without making a strong argument why the current system is effective. In short, they blame society for all the failings of our education system. Obviously there are many outside factors affecting the quality of your child's education but saying things like,
“we are forced to conclude that it is extremely difficult to change the outcomes of schooling in the United States, because the biggest causes of school problems lie outside the education system. Some might call this conclusion a cop-out; we call it reality.”
reeks of hopelessness. Our children are the future of society, we have to do more. We have to update our antiquated education system. Refusing to recognize that things can improve is a recipe for stagnation.
If you decide to read this book my advice is to keep an open mind. There is a lot of valuable information but be wary of the authors’ jaded perspective. Don’t let failures of the past stop you from seeing where change can be made.
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Top reviews from other countries
D. Smith
A superb analysis of the lies that are told to ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2016
