The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools

This book should be read by anyone interested in a strong, effective public school system. The section on the attacks by three special interest groups: neocons, religious right and the far right give much insight into the goals of these factions. This knowledge can be of great help to persons working hard to make positive changes to the public education system. I have ordered mutliple copies and shared same with my legislators and peers.

I am about to become a public school teacher, and browsing the bookstores, I have been amazed at the sheer number of books criticizing America's public schools. This element in our culture has always struck me as odd, seeing as how my public school education was above average. Apparently, these Americans who write editorials and books about the public schools must have somehow scratched by as well--they are, after all, writing books.Needless to say, I was surprised when I saw this book because it contravenes conventinal wisdom. As the writers say, their assertions are going to be hard to believe. They are, but the facts bear them out. I would not be able to accuse these writers as using a dearth of evidence, because there are charts and graphs of documented, peer reviewed studies on just about every other page. The arguments in the book range from the basic point that since SAT scores only test verbal and math skills (duh!)they are not a good indicator of overall student achievement. Besides, the test was created to predict success in baccalaureate programs, not in life or high school or to test general knowledge.The authors go on with several relevant factors about testing and the good sense of comparing apples to apples. For example, a government study that said we paid more per student than other nations was due to the fact that we included higher education in the figure (other nations did not include that figure). Take that out, and our expenditure per student is middle to low. American eighth graders who did poorly on algebra tests when compared to Japanese eighth graders? Considering the fact that much of the sample of our students did not have algebra, a good comparison could not be made. When you took the sample of American eighth graders who had taken Algebra, our mean scores were actually higher than the Japanese.The book goes on and on like this. Definitely arguments worth looking at seriously. The book is a call to focus on the correct problems in American education (financial disparity between affluent areas and non-affluent areas), and to be in awe that our school system serves people and achieves despite some tough odds.Some readers will certainly charge that these writers manipulate data. If that is what you believe after reading this book, then fine. But in defense of Berliner & Biddle, I must commend them for at least using data, and not just assertions to bolster their arguments. Which is more than I can say of the likes of many of the right-wing political administrations who started the trend of criticizing public schooling. In America, we are committed to equal opportunity in education. That is a value that other countries, such as our 'media rival' Japan, do not necessarily share.

Few subjects have been more lied about than the issue of the state of public schools. Berliner and Biddle, two academics in the field of education, methodically demolish every single lie, every single myth that's been perpetrated by the right wing in the past two decades. They dispel the myth of "declining" SAT scores, they take on the Reagan administration propaganda piece A NATION AT RISK, they dispute the notion that private schools are inherently superior than public schools... and they repeatedly show, with a truckload of documentation, what is right with public schools.One of the most notable parts of the book concerns a governmental report conducted during the Bush administration called "The Sandia Report." The report's researchers looked at existing studies about such diverse areas in education as teacher preparation, SAT scores, funding of schools, postsecondary education, and dropout/retention rates. Contrary to the gloom-and-doom of A NATION AT RISK, the researchers found that our educational system in the United States was, on the whole, in far better shape than the propaganda had claimed. Unfortunately, the Bush administration squelched the report as it did not support its preconceived notions on the state of education in America. It wasn't until 1993 when the report was finally released. Berliner and Biddle describe how the report had to be rewritten and rewritten to fit the Bush mold. Still, the results of the study weren't good enough. This was a major and unreported scandal during the Bush years....Berliner and Biddle do acknowledge there are problems in the public schools; for example, the increased numbers of immigrants and the disparities in funding of different school districts in different states. These are REAL problems which require increased spending, unlike the anti-public school propaganda which states the public schools are failures and the only way to save them is to give taxpayer money to private schools via vouchers, which in turn starve the public schools even more for funding and the quality goes down even further. At bottom, the anti-public school propaganda campaign is a campaign against our very form of democracy and social mobility which has made this country great. Berliner and Biddle provide ample ammunition to counter the anti-public school lies.

Too often, the media finds some tidbit of information that speaks to the public concerning the deplorable condition of our schools. This book takes most of this misinformation and tells the complete story. It allows the reader to make an educated analysis of the situations that face educators, administrators, and students. The tone is not overly didactic, but instead allows for the reader to choose which information to believe. It is a very good book, and I am pleased to have spent my time reading it.

This is an important--and enjoyable!--book, which effectively and powerfully answers critics of the public schools. It is a bit slow-going because the authors provide a lot of documentation and evidence to support their arguments, compared to many books written by conservative critics of public schools, whose evidence--if any--is often sketchy and flawed. Must reading for anyone who cares about education!