Education Hell: Rhetoric vs. Reality

by Gerald W. Bracey

Are America's schools broken? Education Rhetoric vs. Reality seeks to address misconceptions about America's schools by taking on the credo 'what can be measured matters.' To the contrary, Dr. Bracey makes a persuasive case that much of what matters cannot be assessed on a multiple choice test. The challenge for educators is to deal effectively with an incomplete accountability system-while creating a broader understanding of successful schools and teachers. School leaders must work to define, maintain, and increase essential skills that may not be measured in today's accountability plans.

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2009

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

When the best part of your book is a chapter comprised of three OTHER people's essays about your topic, you know you've got a problem. Richard Gibboney, Nel Noddings, and Deborah Meier astutely diagnose problems with American education and prescribe solutions with clear logic, reasoned arguments, plentiful evidence, and developed ideas in the final chapter of this book.

Gerald Bracey, on the other hand, for ten long chapters is content to make numerous block quotes with little context or analysis, to cite himself multiple times (He has 13 entries in the References section--more than any other reference!), to describe data instead of just showing it, and to make wild claims with little to no evidence. Bracey brings up a few important points, but his style is that of an amateur blogger, and he pales in comparison to education writers like Alfie Kohn and Diane Ravitch.