The Schools We Need: And Why We Don't Have Them,   ISBN:9780385495240

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Excellent Book! Read Cultural Literacy first. It'll make your understanding of this book a lot clearer.

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Since 1950 we have had a sexual revolution, the coeducation of classes, integration of schools, a massive drug abuse rise, a divorce rate seismic shift, the removal of corporal punishment. Arguably all of these things have negatively impacted our schools (integration led to white flight and the destruction of inner city schools). While we can't turn back the clock things we should consider changing are as follows
- implement single sex class rooms, if not schools
- bring back corporal punishment
- bring back uniform codes

While we are at it perhaps we could set up a motivational state lottery system where the bottom 10% of literacy test performers are eligible for a lottery that will draw 100 names who will attend a military style 2 week boot camp. We could do the same for the most disciplinary prone problem kids.

If you really want to motivate troubled kids every state should do a lottery for high school drop outs and select 10 to be forced into the Army or whomever needs them. Talk about motivation to stay in school.

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I now have better insight into my own frustrations with the public schools. My children, fortunately, have educated parents who supplement their classroom 'learning'. The schools have, unfortunately, bored them with a disconnected curriculum that doesn't even come close to challenging them.

Hirsch provides insight into how we got into this mess and what we need to do to fix the problem. This is a must-read book if you care about your own children and about the future of our country.

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This book is a great rebuke for anyone (such as myself) who gets carried away with idealistic school reform ideas. Schools dumb down their education in the name of progress and Hirsch makes a great arguement why facts are important. He well illustrates how it is actually the school reformers who have changed schools for the worse and how it is really them who are determining the present enviorment. The overview of the progresssive discourse is very informative. I put the book down half way through though because his arguement gets repetitive and I see his point. I see him making a good advance with this book, but I don't think his cultural literacy idea is everything. I find his obsession (it is the founation of his world view and really God is the top) with people like Jefferson and the enlightenment to be the reason his knowledge focus seems a bit dull. If everybody knew georgraphy and world events and history I don't think the world would be much better. It is odd that as much as I agree with him I still hold knowledge in contempt. I can't agree with his assumption that it would be so virtuous to teach everyone algebra, calculus and physics, etc. I can't just absorb facts for no reasons just to be a walking encyclopedia. I know people who can, but I don't envy them much. Though maybe I have been dumbed down by my education and my disinterest. (If anyone knows of a 'knowledge rehab' method I would be interested)
I agree with his refutation of the progressives though. Ultimately in my opinion, school reform is a mess because there is really no need for so many genuinely intelligent people, and people just want to be successful. The world doesn't ask much from the acedemic fields. Furthermore, few people nowadays embrace the contemplative life that leads to understanding. A school can't really provide this. All they are really good for is teaching technical skills and rote facts, (my own speculation) and this is why his arguement works so well - because when they try to do more they just become a tremedous burden of either undisciplined idealistic subjective relativism or 'understandings' learned by rote. Most great authors and philosophers never went beyond grammar school and I think that is where we should leave it too if we had sense.

Definitely read this book if you are interested in education. You may even realize that your ideas for reform are actually rehashes of progressivism. His solutions are practical but by no means complete.

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I haven't got this book so far. It's over 14 days. How can I vote for the product?