On the Death of Childhood and the Destruction of Public Schools: The Folly of Today's Education Policies and Practices - Softcover

BRACEY

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0325006024 ISBN 13: 9780325006024

Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books,U.S., 2003

Synopsis

"contrarian"
"professional outsider"
"a sore loser"
"another member of the Flat Earth Society"
"a national treasure"
"a modern Don Quixote"
"a skeptic's joy!"

No matter what he's called, Gerald Bracey IS public schools' best defender. And in this book, he uses his considerable writing and research skills on their behalf. With authority, sensitivity, and a good sense of humor, he dismantles the negative PR our public education system has endured and does it with hardcore data, not phony "science."

Bracey delivers the statistics and skillful analysis needed to win the numbers game that plays out daily in the popular press. Drawing on data from a variety of reputable sources, he proves that public schools are doing much better than critics claim, some indicators even showing record highs. He takes on the testing movement in numerous chapters, offers data that provide different perspectives than usually seen, and reviews the history of public schools, showing how they have included more and more students while raising achievement levels, too. He questions the so-called "failing schools," discusses the phenomenon of "summer loss," provides international comparisons, and presents data to argue that investing in universal quality preschool pays off in the long run. He even attempts to enter the mind of the father of American public education, Horace Mann, to see what he might think about the "nuttiness of today's policies."

Bracey believes that our only hope to save the public school system is for teachers, teacher educators, and administrators to help speed up the needed perspective transformation. And they can begin to do it by reading this book and resuming their rightful position in educating students.

About this title

About the Author

Beginning in 1984 Gerald W. Bracey wrote a monthly column for Phi Delta Kappan making research accessible to teaching practitioners. In 2003 the column received the Interpretive Scholarship Award from the American Educational Research Association. Bracey was both an independent researcher and writer and worked at both George Mason University and the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation. He earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Stanford University and held positions in private firms, local school districts, universities, and state departments of education.

Synopsis

Opposing the standards and testing movements, as well as other right-wing attacks on public schooling in the United States, independent researcher Bracey debunks myths underlying current policy directions and attacks the privatizing forces behind the No Child Left Behind Act. Many of the 25 essays have been previously published in such publications

About this edition

• Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books,U.S.
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0325006024
• ISBN 13: 9780325006024
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208