Common Sense School Reform

Rating:
Summary: A great addition to the debate
Review: As a teacher, I have often been frustrated by structural impediments that force some students to contend with subpar instruction. Although I don't know if all of Dr. Hess's suggestions will improve this situation in a timely fashion, I am heartened to know that there are people out there thinking outside the box and offering different answers. The problems we encounter cannot be chalked up to lack of funding or parental support. It is time to move beyond those excuses and consider options like those offered in this book to improve our school systems today even without the ideal conditions we would like.

Rating:
Summary: A great addition to the debate
Review: As a teacher, I have often been frustrated by structural impediments that force some students to contend with subpar instruction. Although I don't know if all of Dr. Hess's suggestions will improve this situation in a timely fashion, I am heartened to know that there are people out there thinking outside the box and offering different answers. The problems we encounter cannot be chalked up to lack of funding or parental support. It is time to move beyond those excuses and consider options like those offered in this book to improve our school systems today even without the ideal conditions we would like.

Rating:
Summary: "Common Government School Reform" by RexCurry.net
Review: In "Common Sense School Reform" Frederick M. Hess misses his own points. He criticizes "collectivism," and then urges his alternative: "common" sense reforms. "Common" is a synonym for "collectivism" and it turns out to be in Hess' book too. Hess ends up advocating reforms of a common, collectivist sense. He misses his own point. He needs to advocate cutting government, cutting government schools, and cutting money to government, so that reforms occur because of individuals making independent choices that are not "common."

The problem is evident even by the title. The author's title "Common Sense School Reform" should be "Common Sense Reform of GOVERNMENT Schools." He uses the word "school" when he actually means "government school." His book isn't about reforming "all" schools, government and non-government; his book is about reforming government schools.

And the point becomes clearer as the author holds up non-government schools, and all free market products and services, as examples of why freedom thrives and why government schools fail. Yet, the author misses his own point in his vocabulary.

But it worsens. The hackneyed term "public schools" is used when the author meant "government schools." In a sense Hess is a victim of brainwashing evidenced by his own vocabulary.

His version of common sense rings through all market concepts: accountability, competition, choice, reinvention, innovation. But his reforms do not cut government, cut government schools, and cut money to government, so that the market works. His reforms try to make government schools act like non-government schools and other market goods and services.

Hess contrasts his "Common" sense reforms with what he calls "status quo" reforms. All the reform ideas end up as "statist quo" reforms because nothing in Hess' book necessarily leads to fewer government schools, lower taxes nor less money to the government. It is another example of "conservative socialism" and explains how the present Republican administration are triple the socialists that Clinton was (in social spending alone, including spending for education).

And why should government schools work? Government schools were promoted by U.S. socialists to end freedom, freedom of choice and economic freedom. Even the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a self-proclaimed National Socialist who advocated that government should operate all schools as a socialist monopoly and end all of the better alternatives. The government forced children to attend racist and segregated schools where they recited the Pledge using it's original straight-arm salute. The practice began three decades before it was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers' Party, and the government school racism continued through WWII and beyond, and the government schools still exist to this day. The Pledge of Allegiance was the origin of the salute of the National Socialist German Workers Party, as exposed by the journalist Rex Curry. The author is a victim of that ideology and the system, and he doesn't have the mindset to recognize the problem and end it.

Rating:
Summary: Insightful and Thought-Provoking Work
Review: It's amazing that the dichotomy Frederick Hess offers in his book between those who can truly help our public schools serve children better and those who are too self-interested to take such steps has never been clearly elucidated before. He underscores the simple first steps that can be taken to school improvement and I would love see some of his suggestions implemented. Hess's insights would be a cost-effective means of providing the quality schooling our nation needs to ensure our children can be competitive in a global marketplace.

Rating:
Summary: Good ideas on how to improve public schools
Review: This book makes a number of good points about the basic problems of public education in America today. It is easy for school reformers to get distracted from what they have influence over. Many school reformers point to factors outside their control, "education will get better with better nutrition, or better families, etc..." Frederick Hess says this approach lets teachers and administrators off the hook.

Frederick Hess talks about some specifics of the problems with education in public schools, for example: teachers are hired with very little attention to merit, or principals can't deny pay raises to ineffective teachers.

In talking about reform Frederick Hess makes the distinction between two types of school reformers. First are those who want cosmetic reform, without changing anything fundamental. He calls this "status quo" reformers, for they want to preserve the status quo. The second type of reformer he calls the "common sense" reformers, those who recognize that to truly fix public education we need to make major changes.

According to Frederick, who I agree with, two major components of the needed change have to deal with: 1) accountability, 2) flexibility. He spend a lot of time talking about why we need to have both.

The book is good; there is a lot of insight into the problems with education in America. For anyone interested in learning about the problems of public educations, and way to help make things better, this is a good book to read.

Rating:
Summary: Good ideas on how to improve public schools
Review: This book makes a number of good points about the basic problems of public education in America today. It is easy for school reformers to get distracted from what they have influence over. Many school reformers point to factors outside their control, "education will get better with better nutrition, or better families, etc..." Frederick Hess says this approach lets teachers and administrators off the hook.

Frederick Hess talks about some specifics of the problems with education in public schools, for example: teachers are hired with very little attention to merit, or principals can't deny pay raises to ineffective teachers.

In talking about reform Frederick Hess makes the distinction between two types of school reformers. First are those who want cosmetic reform, without changing anything fundamental. He calls this "status quo" reformers, for they want to preserve the status quo. The second type of reformer he calls the "common sense" reformers, those who recognize that to truly fix public education we need to make major changes.

According to Frederick, who I agree with, two major components of the needed change have to deal with: 1) accountability, 2) flexibility. He spend a lot of time talking about why we need to have both.

The book is good; there is a lot of insight into the problems with education in America. For anyone interested in learning about the problems of public educations, and way to help make things better, this is a good book to read.