Hall of Fools

by Shamrock McShane, Mike Garvin (Illustrations)

Hall of Fools is a nonfiction novel about American public education. If you want to know what it’s like to teach in a public school for one whole year – or thirty – or any number in between, if you want to know if your children are safe in school, or if they’re learning anything and who is teaching it to them, if you’re brave enough, enter the Hall of Fools. Hall of Fools is the story of public education, seen through the prim of a thirty-year career teaching Language Arts in middle school. This searing first-hand account of writing in the trenches finds its literary kin in Hemingway, Proust, Marx, a noble heritage extending to the ancients, enlisted to battle in the war on ignorance. Race, politics, philosophy, aesthetics, religion, unions, sex, gender, violence, crime, love, hate, history, all must pass through the Hall of Fools. You should read this book before you send your kid to school, before you run for office, before you decide to be a teacher, before your next faculty meeting, before you write a book, before you read Proust.

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

Reviews

[Sara Morsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent (and rare) first person account of a lifetime of teaching in the public school system in Florida. Writer is a professional writer who taught in Florida Middle Schools for thirty years. This is a must-read for anyone truly interested in public education. McShane pulls no punches!!!!!!!!! This book should be on the best seller list.