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Smart Kids, Bad Schools: 38 Ways to Save America's Future |  | Author: Brian Crosby
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
List Price: $14.99
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as of 11/23/2009 21:21 CST details
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Seller: critic_l
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 853310
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0312587635
Dewey Decimal Number: 379
EAN: 9780312587635
ASIN: 0312587635
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In Smart Kids, Bad Schools, award-winning author and educator Brian Crosby draws on his twenty years as a high school English teacher to offer a candid appraisal of why our schools are failing and what we must do to save them. Crosby’s no-holds-barred critique of the broken education system leaves no stone unturned: he is unapologetic and uncompromising in his exposé of how teachers, administrators, unions, and parents all play a part in this national tragedy.
Crosby offers 38 ideas to save America’s future and his proposed remedies are revolutionary. He recommends bold measures, such as lengthening the school day and school year, forcing parents to volunteer at schools, abolishing homework, outlawing teachers unions, and cutting special education funding. The result is a book that is likely to inflame passions on all sides of the political spectrum, and, in the process, introduce new ideas to a debate that is in dire need of them.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
 a MUST READ for anyone who cares about truly changing America's public schools September 20, 2009
Parent who wants change (Los Angeles, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
How refreshing to have a book written by a teacher with over 20 years experience (not some so-called education expert who's never taught a day in his life) who has a vision on how best to educate kids. Brian Crosby's ideas should be used to start off serious discussions across this country. I hope politicians get a hold of this book; perhaps they will learn something.
People need to listen to what he has to say. Sure, not everyone will agree with everything in this book, but the passion behind his blueprint for America's schools should be seriously considered. I don't see anyone else in this country creating an ambitious plan. America's kids deserve better. Here's hoping those in power recognize this.
 Too little, too much September 16, 2009
Kevin Ireland (CA, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The subtitle is 38 ways to save America's future. it should have been subtitled 38 ideas, gripes and axes I have to grind about school and the plight of teachers. In any case, his thinking is sloppy and the book seems to have way too much filler. In fact, toward the end it unravels into opinion and not much else.
If this is meant as a discussion starter, fine. If it's meant as a well-researched tour through the education grinder, it's scope is too small (he rarely mentions alternatives other than our formal school system) and he leaves out, in any depth, what school is an answer for in the 21st century. Also, parents' roles are given short shrift. It's all back to trusting the teacher and improving the system. Sorry, school is a tool for how I educate my children. Nothing more. If the tool is broken, I reserve the right to repair or toss; it is a right never superseded by a system or its experts. And I say this as an educator with kids in public schools.
 38 Balls in the Air February 16, 2009
BBOW
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I had the pleasure of interviewing Brian Crosby at www.bigbagofwind.com. He's experienced many of the same things as a 20+ year veteran that I have. We look at our schools and ask ourselves if that is what we'd build from scratch. And of course our schools are not what we'd build from scratch.
But 38 ideas that all depend on each other? Not going to happen on any sort of a micro level. And that's the case for charter schools. Implementing Brian's ideas, one school at a time, over time.
A sad situation October 31, 2008
Rodger Shepherd (Oakland, CA United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I find myself very conflicted about this book. On one hand I am grateful that there are dedicated and provocative teachers like Brian Crosby. I am also indebted to him for describing so many of the flaws in our school "system". However, I am frustrated by the internal inconsistancy of some of his thinking. For example, on page 93 he seems to find it unreasonable that $1.9 -$5.3 billion is spent annually on evaluating the effectiveness of a $500 billion effort to educate our children. Personally, I don't find it unreasonable to allocate 1% on evaluation of effectiveness of almost any system. Of course evaluation of any system should be based on its purpose and objectives. Here Mr. Crosby disappoints me completely. He devotes about half a page (Page 62) to a rather incomplete list of rhetorical questions about the goal of public education, but he does not display an appreciation of the complexity and the fundamental significance of the issue. I hope he grapples with that in his next book.
 Lots of Sensible Ideas But a Handful of Bad Ones September 25, 2008
CrimsonGirl (S.F. Bay Area, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Mr. Crosby's book is a fairly quick read and many of his ideas for improving government-run schools are eminently sensible. These include: making schools' physical appearances and policies less like prisons; larger class sizes with higher quality teachers in high school classes; K-8 schools rather than separate middle schools; a ban on junk food/beverage sales; daily PE and a strong arts program; high-quality vocational education for non-college bound students; merit pay for teachers; eliminating tenure; ending social promotion; bringing back the teaching of basic civility, personal responsibility, respect for and consideration of others, and other virtues; more rigorous classes for gifted students; more field trips; incorporating community service; empowering teachers to actually do their jobs instead of being micromanaged by administrators and bureaucrats; less standardized testing; improving teacher preparation programs at the nation's colleges of education; having a career ladder for teachers; better fiscal management so that schools get more bang for their educational buck; requiring parental involvement; expelling chronically disruptive students; ending frivolous lawsuits by parents; and placing caps on out-of-control special education spending.
A few of his arguments I found unconvincing. I do not share his enthusiasm for a year-round calendar, a longer school day, and full-day kindergarten for all students. These may be appropriate for some children, but for others so much time spent in an institutionalized setting may actually be detrimental. I also disagree with his ideas for moving teachers rather than students from classroom to classroom; having a M-Th schedule for teachers with every single Friday devoted to professional development; and his bashing of private schools & homeschooling and his paternalistic attitude that parents should automatically defer to the teacher's "authority" and "expertise" without question.
Overall, however, I highly recommend "Smart Kids, Bad Schools" to anyone interested in improving the U.S. K-12 education system.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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