Education's Missing Ingredient: What Parents Can Tell Educators

The cry has risen to "fix our public schools." Repeatedly, it has fallen upon the ears of those without the ability to listen or the understanding necessary to develop the vision for a responsible plan to fix schools. A new opportunity presents itself now. It is time to take on the big and supposedly complicated problems of our education system. Education's Missing Ingredient clearly describes the issues-from the dangers associated with a lack of classroom discipline to the failings of the people to recognize and defend their schools from an overstepping federal government. This book clarifies the answers to our education system's woes and our republic's flickering success. It offers a formula for achieving that ever-elusive goal of equal opportunity in American education. As you begin to understand educations' missing ingredient, the simplicity of the solution will amaze you. That path of understanding leads to the type of education system the United States has thus far failed to produce.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Safe and Disciplined Schools Chapter 3 The Three R's: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic Chapter 4 Where's the Science? Chapter 5 Along Came "No Child Left Behind" Chapter 6 What is the Problem? Chapter 7 We Have the Answers Chapter 8 What's Next? Chapter 9 Democracy and Education Chapter 10 Reflections Chapter 11 Acknowledgements Chapter 12 Bibliography

About the Author :
Victoria M. Young is a member of the Idaho Writer's Guild, a mother of two, and a doctor of veterinary medicine. She has participated in classrooms, on various school advisory committees, and received a Friend of Caldwell Schools Award in recognition of her support of education and the pursuit of excellence.

Review :
As a mom of two non-graduates, I wish Victoria M. Young had written this book earlier. My children's outcome may have been different; their lives would have surely been changed. Victoria M. Young is a parent that makes all of us think and grow in our profession. Education's Missing Ingredient provides parents with tools and ideas on how to contribute to and improve education in their communities. Without those parents who question and point out those unique community needs and history, schools will never truly meet the needs of children. This is a call to parents sitting on the sidelines. The purpose of any institution is to serve the community for which it was created. Therefore, institutions are responsible for reflecting the changes which are taking place in their social structure. Victoria M. Young has pointed this out very effectively in Education's Missing Ingredient. But more than this, she has illustrated the fact that parents and ordinary citizens can be superb sources of dynamic input into public schools. Her research and observations are excellent and remind us that public schools should be open to both the needs and ideas of those for whom they were created to serve.