Public schools in America are failing based on the dismal statistics we receive from the news outlets, politicians, and the general public. Over and over we have been told that Public Schools in America are about as bad as they can be. This book is designed to give the reader a broad perspective on how public education got to this point, where it is presently, and some possibilities on how to move
forward by setting a more goal oriented path. The design we use in education was created to educate the elite. The American Education system was never designed to educate the masses. The system works well for middle to upper middle class students and those who come to school ready to learn, grow, and develop. Many of the students coming from distressed homes and families come with a different set of tools in their arsenal. If we cannot figure out how to America faces an education crisis that is frightening if we can’t figure out how to get this right. Ever since Sputnik was launched in 1957, the federal government has been pressured to do something to fix the schools, fix the teachers, and fix the students. After reading this book you will find that their attempts to fix what they called a broken system has failed over and over and with each new President, they packaged the same program under a different title. There is enough blame to go around as to why we live in a country with as many resources as we have and we can’t educate our children. Maybe it is politically incorrect to say that children from poor families are different and come to school with a different set of dynamics than other students. However, if we can’t tell the facts, we can’t identify the problem, and therefore will continue to apply the same ineffective but costly solution. This book identifies and strongly suggests that while we are concentrating on the cognitive issues, the problems of our low income students are more affective in nature. One of the more astounding points made by this author is that public schools are not failing. When data is disaggregated effectively, the students the schools were designed to educate are being educated. To effectively educate a different group of students, educators must develop a different plan that is more of a community development model. If we are serious about educating all children, then let’s provide what is needed to be able to do just that. It’s time to stop giving lip service to the idea of educating all children. If we cannot figure this out, we risk developing a two class system in the; Those who have and Those who have not.