Setting the Record Straight: Responses to Misconceptions About Public Education in the U.S.

by Gerald W. Bracey

Gerald Bracey knows there are three kinds of lies in education lies, damned lies, and the statistics that reactionary reformers tout as evidence in favor of dismantling our public schools. In this second and substantially updated edition of the hard-hitting Setting the Record Straight , Bracey, whom Washington Post education reporter Jay Mathews called one of this country's most authoritative defenders of the work of public school teachers, goes toe-to-toe with the opponents of quality public education. You'll learn how to discredit them in your own discussions by using the very logic and statistical analyses they purport to have on their side. In this series of smart, forceful analyses, Bracey homes in on specific topics like vouchers, school funding, and comparisons to international test scores, themes around which agitators have created a host of mythological American school failures from the flimsiest of evidence. In fact, each essay begins with a question you might commonly hear in conversation about these alleged shortcomings, to which Bracey provides a brief, sound- byte-ready rebuttal. Then he follows it up with a full-length explanation, replete with statistical data and talking points that fully support his assertions-and silence those who would undermine education with disinformation. Beginning in his introduction with the seed that germinated in Ronald Reagan's Nation at Risk sloganeering and quickly fast-forwarding to the present-day federal intrusion into schools that has propelled so many political careers, Bracey stamps out the weeds of anti-public education advocacy and leaves no threat to quality teaching and learning behind. With Gerald Bracey and the truth behind you, you'll confidently take on the foes of public education in your own community and never again be cowed by the insidious arguments of education reformers.

232 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 1997

Reviews

[Nancy Sherod · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for a class and was frustrated with the bias found within the pages.

[Yofish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series of essays written by a defender of public schools. Hard to tell how dated his info is. (Book from 1995.) Takes self a little too seriously; sounds like he's just quoting the data that supports himself, while denigrating others. Annoyingly set up so that each essay starts with a "myth" followed by a bullet points of why it's wrong, then more detailed "analysis," then a sum up. Seems like a lot of padding. He does have a few good points, though, and it's nice that someone is at least trying to measure these things, even if he sounds no more interested in facts that don't support his conclusions than the straw men he goes up against.