What's Wrong with Our Schools: and How We Can Fix Them

What's Wrong with Our Schools and How We Can Fix Them examines the status of public education in North America and exposes many of the absurd instructional practices found in all-too-many schools. Written by three experienced educators, this book provides readers with a direct window into public education. The language is straightforward, the case studies based on real events, and the research evidence clearly presented. With chapter titles like, 'Subject Matter Matters,' 'A Pass Should be Earned,' and 'There is Too Much Edu-Babble,' the authors systematically demolish the ridiculous fads that have taken hold of public education. As unashamed apologists for the importance of knowledge and content in school curricula, the authors clearly show why the views of romantic progressives, like those of popular author Alfie Kohn, fail to stand up to rigorous scrutiny. A consistent focus on common sense permeates this book and provides parents, teachers, and administrators with practical ways in which they can help improve public education. Anyone interested in the future of public education will benefit from reading this book. For more information, visit www.fixingourschools.com.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Introduction: Whatever Happened to Common Sense? Part 2 Part I: Some Things Are Fundamental Chapter 3 Subject Matter Matters Chapter 4 Tests Are Good for Students Chapter 5 Students Need Discipline Chapter 6 Inclusion Should Not Be Exclusion Chapter 7 Some Teachers Are Better Than Others Chapter 8 Some Schools Are Better Than Others Part 9 Part II: Some Things Are Practical Chapter 10 Classrooms Should Be Teacher-Centered Chapter 11 Direct Instruction Is Good Teaching Chapter 12 Rote Learning and Practice Are Important Chapter 13 A Little Homework Doesn't Hurt Chapter 14 Grades Should Reflect Achievement Chapter 15 A Pass Should Be Earned Part 16 Part III: Some Things Are Distracting Chapter 17 Teachers' Unions Don't Always Put Students First Chapter 18 There Is Too Much "Edu-Babble" Part 19 Conclusion: Using Common Sense to Obtain Better Schools

About the Author :
Michael C. Zwaagstra is a high school social studies teacher at Green Valley School in Manitoba and a research associate with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Rodney A. Clifton is a professor of education and a senior fellow at St. John's College, University of Manitoba. John C. Long recently retired from the University of Manitoba where he was professor of educational administration.

Review :
This is simply the best book on the public school I have seen. Written in straightforward language, parents are informed about the foolish fads that still afflict our public schools. Consistent with the research and without condescension the book advocates a return to common sense. A clear, fluent and (yes!) common-sense alternative to the culture of romantic progressivism which has captured so completely the education establishment throughout North America. The authors have read the research, but they draw also critically on classroom experience and make recommendations that are practical in the distinctly unideal reality of today's public school systems. For parents puzzled by school rules and practices that don't make sense to them, What's Wrong With Our Schools is a useful corrective. It illumines the principal arguments now raging over education policy and explains how to get in-depth information that allows us bewildered parents and other onlookers to figure out who is right. If you read only one book on current affairs this year, make it this one. What goes on in our schools is at the core of all that happens in our country?what citizens know, what they believe, and how they behave. The authors have marshaled all of the issues at stake in the so-called school wars, explained them lucidly and sensibly, and made recommendations that affect every American parent, teacher, school administrator and taxpayer. They illustrate all sides of the arguments in the vast and often confusing literature on the various aspects of the education debates and they offer practical answers to some of the most vexing questions of the day, beyond spin and image, ideology and the cant. An illuminating, eminently readable guide to the ways in whichwe could make our schools the instruments they should be for educating men and women to live in a democracy.. The sanest, most commonsensical education-reform book I have seen in many years, What's Wrong with Our Schools is a trove of clear-thinking, hard-won front-line wisdom, rich experience, and policy sagacity. Our schools and children will be a lot better off if the authors' advice is widely heeded. The authors do an outstanding job of puncturing the balloon of progressive education, explaining in straightforward, clear, and compelling fashion why much of American K–12 education has failed over the past couple decades. Whole language, fuzzy math, constructivism, and the usual suspects are nicely critiqued. As What's Wrong With Our Schools indicates, the main culprit in all this is an abandonment of common sense by the gurus who dominate the profession. All in all, a great read, especially for parents wondering whether the emperor has any clothes or not If you read only one book on current affairs this year, make it this one. What goes on in our schools is at the core of all that happens in our country—what citizens know, what they believe, and how they behave. The authors have marshaled all of the issues at stake in the so-called school wars, explained them lucidly and sensibly, and made recommendations that affect every American parent, teacher, school administrator and taxpayer. They illustrate all sides of the arguments in the vast and often confusing literature on the various aspects of the education debates and they offer practical answers to some of the most vexing questions of the day, beyond spin and image, ideology and the cant. An illuminating, eminently readable guide to the ways in which we could make our schools the instruments they should be for educating men and women to live in a democracy. This fine and brave book more than delivers on its claim of common sense—an uncommon virtue in the world of school reform. It will empower parents and liberate teachers. I hope it will be widely read, for its message desperately needs to be heeded.