Hello! My Name Is Public School, and I Have an Image Problem

by Leslie Milder

So much energy is focused on what's wrong with our public schools and how to fix them that we often lose sight of the extraordinary work occurring in our schools every day, thanks to millions of caring, dedicated professional educators who work hard to ensure every student reaches their potential. In Hello! My Name is Public School and I Have an Image Problem , authors and teachers Leslie Milder and Jane Braddock provide a solution for educators who wish to strengthen public confidence in their public schools. They share commonsense techniques on how schools and their employees can establish themselves as ambassadors who convey a positive message. This book enunciates a step-by-step approach to challenging the unjust criticism and accusations of failure by directing the energies of those who work in our schools to step up as ambassadors for America's public schools and the children they serve. The authors underscore the power of professional unity and its profoundly positive impact on the profession, and why a culture of brotherhood is an essential element of any successful organization. The forces that weaken public trust and confidence in public education are discussed at length, as well as strategies for restoring public pride, hope, optimism, and confidence in our public schools and in those who dedicate their lives to educating our youth.

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 27, 2012

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello! My Name is Public School was a bit of odd book for me. Overall, I think it's a great conversation starter and rallying point for teachers and the education profession in general, as there is a lot of good advice and starting points given. I especially liked the homework sections at the end of each chapter that distilled the chapter into a couple of bullets points on what action an individual could personally take starting now to work towards the chapter's given goal.

However, there was some information - not advice, bit facts - that seemed to be eiher wrong or stated badly. For information on the state of the public education, I would suggest books by Diane Ravitch, specifically The Death and Life of the Great American School Sysytem and Rule of Error.

[Maurice Peugh]

Actually, this book was surprisingly good for required reading as a textbook.

[Li · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book promotes the idea of creating positive publicity (starting at the individual level) for public schools. I had been looking forward to reading this book ever since I heard a presentation by one of the authors. I am a product of public schools as are most of my family and friends. Therefore, as this concept is one I believe in and support, I was pleased to see it as an area of focus for all involved in public education (5). However, as much as I wanted to love this book, I was disappointed with the conveyance of the concept. On a positive note, the dedications were beautiful and heart-warming (5), and the title was catchy (3). Very early in the book, though, portions of the audience were alienated by not being mentioned in the laundry list of school employees. An acknowledgement that they could not all be listed via “etc.” or (per Gilligan’s Island) “and the rest” could have easily ameliorated this issue in its first instance. Said alienation again occurred by the authors’ repeated insistence that teaching is THE most noble profession. Although most (including myself) would likely agree it’s ONE of the noblest professions, for those who work in the schools but who are not teachers, insistence that it’s THE most important one detracts from their equally crucial roles in educating our children (2). In addition, the enthusiastic tone sometimes came across as yelling (2). I was surprised by the advice to interrupt people in public to correct any misconceptions of theirs that the listener may have overheard as well as the suggestion that teachers only respond to that which they perceive to be the most important issue whenever a concerned parent contacts them in writing about a multitude of concerns (2). One of the biggest shocks was that pertaining to how the topic of professional dress was handled. Although it is an important subject that needs to be addressed, the discussion came across as rather casual and unrefined for the overall tone of the book (2). The biggest disappointment, however, was that the book was fraught with punctuation and grammar errors, including confusing changes in voice and, at times, subject-verb disagreement (1); such undermined the intended message that we should celebrate that public schools produce high quality learners. As my colleague suggested, this work reads more like a blog than as a book. To be a bit more objective in my review (rather than letting my disappointment completely color it), I rated each area of perceived strength and weakness and averaged the total, resulting in a rating of 2.75. If Goodreads incorporated half-stars into its ratings system, I'd give this book 2.5 stars. Sadly, though, Goodreads' system is based on whole stars, and I always round down, which means this book gets a 2 from me.

[Alissa Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, quick read

Short to the point. It's a no brainier of a book, but could raise a lot of discussions. Good professional development book, book study idea.