The book elicited a lot of thoughts and reactions from me due to the subject matter, the writing, and the author's opinions. This is the main reason why I read any book and so I must call it a roaring success.

I admit I bought this book for the title. I didn't even read the description. I wanted to read about how education is being undermined because like most of the world I was and am largely dissatisfied with it. This largely held dissatisfaction has helped various organizations and government members gain support and sympathy when they express similar complaints. This widely shared dissatisfaction will also likely help sell this book. This book didn't spend much time addressing my specific complaints which are largely ideological or ontological and at times political (although again ideologically). However, I was not unsatisfied with the abundance of material to rue over, spit fiery fumes at, or solemnly nod in agreement.

In my mind this book is divided in parts (although the author didn't say so specifically).
1- Author's introduction
2- A history of (and apology for) some of her past positions. This section was a bit one-sided, I suspect because the author is in dialogue with some issues she past campaigned for and now regrets. It can become a little overwhelming. As important as I feel education is, sometimes it seems she is talking about war crimes and the slave trade.
3- Presentation and history of the fundamental issues in education today (choice, accountability, reform, etc). These are presented more evenly, though the author's opinion is clearly felt.
4- The author's new conclusions

I made a lot of underlines and notes about this text (47 according to my kindle), which I doubt I have time to write down all now. I was especially amazed that Japan was lauded and now I must track down some book on the Japanese educational system. I can't imagine a worse system to try and imitate. From my notes: "If we admit the facade masking real learning resulting from standardized tests, can't we see the potential damage to all fields of curriculum if we expand this standardization?" In Japan I can write a character on the whiteboard and know how old the children in my class are based on who can read it. That's how normalized the education is. It's not unusual for children to make remarks like "2nd years don't have to know that", "You should have learned that in 3rd year", "We don't have to know this". Seriously, I could rant for hours on almost any one of my notes. And for that I really appreciate this book. I love rant fodder.

I may add some other notes later.