Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips: The Fate of Public Education in America

by Gene V. Glass

"We shape our tools and then they shape us." With these words, Kenneth Boulding captured one of the great truths of the modern world. In Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips, Gene V Glass analyzes how a few key technological inventions changed culture in America and how public education has changed as a result. Driving these changes are material self-interest and the desire for comfort and security, both of which have transformed American culture into a hyper-consuming, xenophobic society that is systematically degrading public education. Glass shows how the central education policy debates at the start of the 21st century (vouchers, charter schools, tax credits, high-stakes testing, bilingual education) are actually about two underlying how can the costs of public education be cut, and how can the education of the White middle-class be "quasi-privatized" at public expense? Working from the demographic realities of the past thirty years, he projects a challenging and disturbing future for public education in America. Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips is attracting the attention of the nation's foremost education scholars.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, History

328 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2008

Reviews

[Matthew Byrd]

This was a repetitive overly-long and highly opiniated book without much empirical data to connect the strings together. While there is an abundance of good information in the book, the author fails to connect it all together to prove a point, rather vaguely gesturing towards a middle-class boogieman. While the author may be correct in their claims - only time will tell - it's hard to say that they have done a very good job of convincing anyone here of the broader points.

With that said, there are many sub-points in this book that are highly relevant and encourage deep thought and concern about the state of our society today. The only issue is that these points are repeated at multiple points in the book so much so that they become uninteresting and encourage a large amount of skimming some of the later chapters.

[Bob Klein]

Terrific book and great arguments from a trusted author. Glass argues that understanding education requires understanding the broader cultural, social, economic, and political forces that shape American society. Most notably, the use of fertilizers leading to the rural-to-urban migration, birth control pills leading to a massive age shift in the populace, and the rise of uncollateralized credit and the impact it has on economics at all levels of society. This terrific read is tempered somewhat by inadequate editing, especially in the final chapters where it interrupts a largely personal and impassioned (but still principled) argument by Glass about what might become of US education in the future based on present and past data.

[Alison Johnson]

Glass makes a great point that shifts in demographics across the K-12 student population, driven by advances in technology, have affected public education. He also makes a great point that increasing consumerism in American culture affects how individuals interact with the education system. However, I was surprised at how subjective his arguments are, considering he is a statistician.

One of Glass’ overarching assertions is that the “crisis” in education in the 80s and 90s (A Nation at Risk, No Child Left Behind) was manufactured so conservatives could co-opt the education system and push their education agenda; it would behoove Glass to also note how liberals have done this by crying “defunded public schools” as public school spending reaches an all-time high, and by crying “urgent nationwide teacher shortage” when we do not see a sudden mass exodus of teachers, but rather localized, chronic shortages. Glass says that no evidence exists to support private school choice, closing his eyes to a plethora of studies that show positive effects (although there is some mixed evidence).

This book gave me deeper historical context for thinking about American public education, but I don’t believe Glass’ arguments are well-supported overall.

[Jane]

On Order at Fondren Library

Information Age Publishing Description:
"We shape our tools and then they shape us." With these words, Kenneth Boulding captured one of the great truths of the modern world. In Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips, Gene V Glass analyzes how a few key technological inventions changed culture in America and how public education has changed as a result. Driving these changes are material self-interest and the desire for comfort and security, both of which have transformed American culture into a hyper-consuming, xenophobic society that is systematically degrading public education.

Glass shows how the central education policy debates at the start of the 21st century (vouchers, charter schools, tax credits, high-stakes testing, bilingual education) are actually about two underlying issues: how can the costs of public education be cut, and how can the education of the White middle-class be "quasi-privatized" at public expense? Working from the demographic realities of the past thirty years, he projects a challenging and disturbing future for public education in America.

[Katy]

Although written in textbook language and the fact that this book could use a better editor for spelling and errors. This is a great book. All people involve in education (and in America that means everyone) should read this book. It makes you think about the policies and decisions made in our education system today.

A few great quotes from the book:

"Where education is concerned, the old adage holds true: Facts are negotiable; beliefs are rock solid."

"... debates in education.. are about gaining the political power to control money and secure special privileges."

"Americans will support policies that are harmful to minorities that they would not tolerate if those same policies were applied to majority populations."

Read this if you care about public education
Read this anyway if you don't care, because you should.

And kudos to some of the policies in Utah where they believe that all kids are their kids!

[Sue]

Strong case for why education "reforms" will not improve K - 12 public education.

[Holly Herrera]

Definitely a different way to look at the "Educational Crisis" in America. I am looking forward to the opposing viewpoint.