Schoolhouse Burning

Schoolhouse Burning PDF Author: Derek W. Black
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1541774388
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
The full-scale assault on public education threatens not just public education but American democracy itself. Public education as we know it is in trouble. Derek W. Black, a legal scholar and tenacious advocate, shows how major democratic and constitutional developments are intimately linked to the expansion of public education throughout American history. Schoolhouse Burningis grounded in pathbreaking, original research into how the nation, in its infancy, built itself around public education and, following the Civil War, enshrined education as a constitutional right that forever changed the trajectory of our democracy. Public education, alongside the right to vote, was the cornerstone of the recovery of the war-torn nation. Today's current schooling trends -- the declining commitment to properly fund public education and the well-financed political agenda to expand vouchers and charter schools -- present a major assault on the democratic norms that public education represents and risk undermining one of the unique accomplishments of American society.

Schoolhouse Burning

Schoolhouse Burning PDF Author: Derek W. Black
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 1541774388
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
The full-scale assault on public education threatens not just public education but American democracy itself. Public education as we know it is in trouble. Derek W. Black, a legal scholar and tenacious advocate, shows how major democratic and constitutional developments are intimately linked to the expansion of public education throughout American history. Schoolhouse Burningis grounded in pathbreaking, original research into how the nation, in its infancy, built itself around public education and, following the Civil War, enshrined education as a constitutional right that forever changed the trajectory of our democracy. Public education, alongside the right to vote, was the cornerstone of the recovery of the war-torn nation. Today's current schooling trends -- the declining commitment to properly fund public education and the well-financed political agenda to expand vouchers and charter schools -- present a major assault on the democratic norms that public education represents and risk undermining one of the unique accomplishments of American society.

Public Education

Public Education PDF Author: David C. Berliner
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 0807766097
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Twenty-eight eminent essayists remind our nations parents, educators, school board members and politicians that our democracy is in jeopardy and that our nation's system of free universal public education is also under attack. If that attack succeeds, American democracy itself would be further imperiled. That is because American democracy rests on a belief that the power of our government comes from the people, and the diffusion of knowledge and the enlightenment of the people has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the founding of our republic. America's public schools, therefore, have a special mandate"--

A Democratic Constitution for Public Education

A Democratic Constitution for Public Education PDF Author: Paul T. Hill
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226200545
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
America’s education system faces a stark dilemma: it needs governmental oversight, rules and regulations, but it also needs to be adaptable enough to address student needs and the many different problems that can arise at any given school—something that large educational bureaucracies are notoriously bad at. Paul Hill and Ashley Jochim offer here a solution that is brilliant for its simplicity and distinctly American sensibility: our public education system needs a constitution. Adapting the tried-and-true framework of our forefathers to the specific governance of education, they show that the answer has been part of our political DNA all along. Most reformers focus on who should control education, but Hill and Jochim show that who governs is less important than determining what powers they have. They propose a Civic Education Council—a democratic body subject to checks and balances that would define the boundaries of its purview as well as each school’s particular freedoms. They show how such a system would prevent regulations meant to satisfy special interests and shift the focus to the real task at hand: improving school performance. Laying out the implications of such a system for parents, students, teachers, unions, state and federal governments, and courts, they offer a vision of educational governance that stays true to—and draws on the strengths of—one of the greatest democratic tools we have ever created.

Reinventing Public Education

Reinventing Public Education PDF Author: Paul Hill
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226336530
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book Here

Book Description
A heated debate is raging over our nation’s public schools and how they should be reformed, with proposals ranging from imposing national standards to replacing public education altogether with a voucher system for private schools. Combining decades of experience in education, the authors propose an innovative approach to solving the problems of our school system and find a middle ground between these extremes. Reinventing Public Education shows how contracting would radically change the way we operate our schools, while keeping them public and accessible to all, and making them better able to meet standards of achievement and equity. Using public funds, local school boards would select private providers to operate individual schools under formal contracts specifying the type and quality of instruction. In a hands-on, concrete fashion, the authors provide a thorough explanation of the pros and cons of school contracting and how it would work in practice. They show how contracting would free local school boards from operating schools so they can focus on improving educational policy; how it would allow parents to choose the best school for their children; and, finally, how it would ensure that schools are held accountable and academic standards are met. While retaining a strong public role in education, contracting enables schools to be more imaginative, adaptable, and suited to the needs of children and families. In presenting an alternative vision for America’s schools, Reinventing Public Education is too important to be ignored.

The Case against Education

The Case against Education PDF Author: Bryan Caplan
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691201439
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 518

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why we need to stop wasting public funds on education Despite being immensely popular—and immensely lucrative—education is grossly overrated. Now with a new afterword by Bryan Caplan, this explosive book argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skills but to signal the qualities of a good employee. Learn why students hunt for easy As only to forget most of what they learn after the final exam, why decades of growing access to education have not resulted in better jobs for average workers, how employers reward workers for costly schooling they rarely ever use, and why cutting education spending is the best remedy. Romantic notions about education being "good for the soul" must yield to careful research and common sense—The Case against Education points the way.

Public Schools, Public Menace

Public Schools, Public Menace PDF Author: Joel Turtel
Publisher: Shawn K. Hall
ISBN: 0964569329
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book Here

Book Description
The book explains why public schools are a menace to our children and waste their precious time. The book also shows why public schools are beyond repair, and simply cannot give children the education they need and deserve The author reveals how public schools cripple children's ability to read and indoctrinate innocent children with anti-parent, anti-American, and anti-Judeo-Christian values. The books also explores why public-school authorities now pressure millions of parents to give their children mind-altering drugs like Ritalin. The good news is that parents don't have to put up with a third-rate, mind-numbing public-school education for their kids any longer. The author gives parents a wealth of practical advice, strategies, and resources about quality, low-cost education alternatives parents can use to give their kids a great education, if they decide to take their kids out of public school. He gives detailed lists of quality, low-cost Internet schools, teaching books, and home-schooling resources parents can use to give their kids a great education. Dr. Laura Schlessinger, syndicated radio talk-show host said about "Public Schools, Public Menace" that , "This book is a must read for every parent . . ."

A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door

A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door PDF Author: Jack Schneider
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620978121
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 153

Get Book Here

Book Description
A trenchant analysis of how public education is being destroyed in overt and deceptive ways—and how to fight back In the “vigorous, well-informed” (Kirkus Reviews) A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, the co-hosts of the popular education podcast Have You Heard expose the potent network of conservative elected officials, advocacy groups, funders, and think tanks that are pushing a radical vision to do away with public education. “Cut[ing] through the rhetorical fog surrounding a host of free-market reforms and innovations” (Mike Rose), Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire lay bare the dogma of privatization and reveal how it fits into the current context of right-wing political movements. A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door “goes above and beyond the typical explanations” (SchoolPolicy.org), giving readers an up-close look at the policies—school vouchers, the war on teachers’ unions, tax credit scholarships, virtual schools, and more—driving the movement’s agenda. Called “well-researched, carefully argued, and alarming” by Library Journal, this smart, essential book has already incited a public reckoning on behalf of the millions of families served by the American educational system—and many more who stand to suffer from its unmaking. “Just as with good sci-fi,” according to Jacobin, “the authors make a compelling case that, based on our current trajectory, a nightmare future is closer than we think.”

Public Education

Public Education PDF Author: Myron Lieberman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674722323
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this blistering critique of our failing public schools, Lieberman explains why public education is in irreversible and terminal decline and tells what we must do to get American schooling back on track. A refreshingly clear analysis of our educational crisis and a rallying cry for market-system approaches to school reform.

Dumbing Us Down

Dumbing Us Down PDF Author: John Taylor Gatto
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550923013
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Get Book Here

Book Description
With over 70,000 copies of the first edition in print, this radical treatise on public education has been a New Society Publishers’ bestseller for 10 years! Thirty years in New York City’s public schools led John Gatto to the sad conclusion that compulsory schooling does little but teach young people to follow orders like cogs in an industrial machine. This second edition describes the wide-spread impact of the book and Gatto’s "guerrilla teaching." John Gatto has been a teacher for 30 years and is a recipient of the New York State Teacher of the Year award. His other titles include A Different Kind of Teacher (Berkeley Hills Books, 2001) and The Underground History of American Education (Oxford Village Press, 2000).

Reinventing America's Schools

Reinventing America's Schools PDF Author: David Osborne
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632869918
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Get Book Here

Book Description
From David Osborne, the author of Reinventing Government--a biting analysis of the failure of America's public schools and a comprehensive plan for revitalizing American education. In Reinventing America's Schools, David Osborne, one of the world's foremost experts on public sector reform, offers a comprehensive analysis of the charter school movements and presents a theory that will do for American schools what his New York Times bestseller Reinventing Government did for public governance in 1992. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the city got an unexpected opportunity to recreate their school system from scratch. The state's Recovery School District (RSD), created to turn around failing schools, gradually transformed all of its New Orleans schools into charter schools, and the results are shaking the very foundations of American education. Test scores, school performance scores, graduation and dropout rates, ACT scores, college-going rates, and independent studies all tell the same story: the city's RSD schools have tripled their effectiveness in eight years. Now other cities are following suit, with state governments reinventing failing schools in Newark, Camden, Memphis, Denver, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Oakland. In this book, Osborne uses compelling stories from cities like New Orleans and lays out the history and possible future of public education. Ultimately, he uses his extensive research to argue that in today's world, we should treat every public school like a charter school and grant them autonomy, accountability, diversity of school designs, and parental choice.