Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
A trenchant analysis of how public education is being destroyed in overt and deceptive ways--and how to fight back
"There's no more time for tinkering around the edges." --Betsy DeVos, 2018 "Rethink School" tour
Betsy DeVos may be the most prominent face of the push to dismantle public education, but she is in fact part of a large movement that's been steadily gaining power and notching progress for decades--amassing funds, honing their messaging, and crafting policies. While support for public education today is stronger than ever, the movement to save our schools remains fragmented, variable, and voluntary. Meanwhile, those set on destroying this beloved institution are unified, patient, and well-resourced.
In A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider, co-hosts of the popular education podcast Have You Heard, lay out the increasingly potent network of conservative elected officials, advocacy groups, funders, and think tanks that have aligned behind a radical vision to unmake public education. They describe the dogma underpinning the work of the dismantlers and how it fits into the current political context, giving readers an up-close look at the policies--school vouchers, the war on teachers' unions, tax credit scholarships, virtual schools, and more--driving the movement's agenda. Finally they look forward, surveying the world the dismantlers threaten to build.
As teachers from coast to coast mobilize with renewed vigor, this smart, essential book sounds an alarm, one that should incite a public reckoning on behalf of the millions of families served by the American educational system--and many more who stand to suffer from its unmaking.
Synopsis
In the "vigorous, well-informed" (Kirkus Reviews) A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, the co-hosts of the popular education podcast Have You Heard expose the potent network of conservative elected officials, advocacy groups, funders, and think tanks that are pushing a radical vision to do away with public education.
"Cut ing] through the rhetorical fog surrounding a host of free-market reforms and innovations" (Mike Rose), Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire lay bare the dogma of privatization and reveal how it fits into the current context of right-wing political movements. A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door "goes above and beyond the typical explanations" (SchoolPolicy.org), giving readers an up-close look at the policies--school vouchers, the war on teachers' unions, tax credit scholarships, virtual schools, and more--driving the movement's agenda.
Called "well-researched, carefully argued, and alarming" by Library Journal, this smart, essential book has already incited a public reckoning on behalf of the millions of families served by the American educational system--and many more who stand to suffer from its unmaking. "Just as with good sci-fi," according to Jacobin, "the authors make a compelling case that, based on our current trajectory, a nightmare future is closer than we think."