Deborah Meier

As a community college professor, I see the products of today's public education system. It doesn't take a lot of poking around to realize that the system is broken, but not for the reasons that conservative, neoliberal, anti-government folks would have you believe. It's broken because of the emphasis on taking tests instead of learning, it's broken because it's being starved of money and resources, and it's broken because it's being purposefully dismantled by the free market.

These Schools Belong to You and Me helps to define the purpose of public schooling, explain how radical public schools were built in the mid-late 20th century, and explains how the conservative agenda has co-opted that agenda to take down public schools. It's a quick read, and an important one.… (mehr)

I was looking forward to this book, because I had enjoyed Deborah Meier's earlier book. Unfortunately, the experience of both authors of the book These schools belong to you and me is so different from my experience in public schools that I keep thinking that they are writing about charter schools and private schools, not public schools. This confusion between reality in most public schools, espectially rural and inner city schools and the author's hopeful and unrealistic plans was upsetting to me.… (mehr)