Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform

Rating:
Summary: Factual reading, but little else...
Review: I read Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform for a presentation, but I wouldn't have purchased this book on my own initiative. The book is filled with facts and opinion polls, which only reveal the fickleness of the American public -- claiming that public schools are deplorable one year, and excellent the next. The authors inform the reader of what reforms didn't work, but offer few ideas of how to implement change. The book has potential, but falls unfavorably short of expectations.

Rating:
Summary: disappointed after reading this book
Review: Just as someone said below, "Good book for a report but not for pleasure reading".

Rating:
Summary: Best Brief Intro to Educational Reform in the US
Review: Tinkering Toward Utopia is simply the best brief introduction to the history of educational reform in the US available. Anyone with a genuine interest in historical explanations of why grand schemes of school reform fail and why "crisis" is the way the US has tended to view its need for school reform, will be rewarded by this clearly written account. The book substitutes complex historical analysis for the usual simple-minded polemics of writing on education, but the authors do not weigh the book down with a lot of historical evidence and inpenetrable footnotes. I highly recommend this book for anyone who cares about the prospects of reforming public schools in the US.

Rating:
Summary: Best Brief Intro to Educational Reform in the US
Review: Tinkering Toward Utopia is simply the best brief introduction to the history of educational reform in the US available. Anyone with a genuine interest in historical explanations of why grand schemes of school reform fail and why "crisis" is the way the US has tended to view its need for school reform, will be rewarded by this clearly written account. The book substitutes complex historical analysis for the usual simple-minded polemics of writing on education, but the authors do not weigh the book down with a lot of historical evidence and inpenetrable footnotes. I highly recommend this book for anyone who cares about the prospects of reforming public schools in the US.