What's Gone Wrong in America's Classrooms

by Williamson M. Evers

These essays identify key failures in modern American education and illuminate some ways in which those in the teaching profession—and their students—can achieve higher levels of performance, making the case for content-rich education and explicit teaching.

190 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 1998

Reviews

[Alicia Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of articles written by presenters at an educational conference. As such, it presents some interesting looks at various issues in education. It dates to right before NCLB came into effect, and unknowingly reveals why that movement was so disparaged, as well as why it failed.

The best chapter was that by Hirsch which ended the book. He put forth excellent reasons why the leading educational "research" organizations can't be trusted. I'd always known that certain aspects of education were illogical to me; I was the high-achieving student who loves drills and lectures, and as a teacher, find that my students learn and retain much more information from a well-done lecture (including lots of "facts") than from the group projects and activities mandated by the leaders in education.

As an avid reader of science and psychology magazines written for the general public, I've read lots of articles on brain science, cognition, etc., that are in stark contrast to what colleges of education teach. It boggles my mind that leaders in education policy urge the use of untested ideas that are based on premises that simply don't match real scientific research. It's extra scary to know that this conference took place fifteen years ago, and I know that education students today are still being told that student-centered education is best. Aaghh...