Class Warfare, by Steven Brill
I’m very interested in the school-reform movement, so I’ve been debating whether to buy Steven Brill’s new book, Class Warfare.
Unfortunately, the early reviews aren’t encouraging. They report that the book is a mish-mash, starting with adoring interviews of school-reform advocates, but ending with doubts and uncertainty about those same reforms.
According to these reviews, Brill started with a strong bias (anti-union, pro-reform) but gradually learned that the issues facing public education are much more complex, and that nobody really seems to know how to improve public education.
I’ve decided not to pay $15 for this book.
Some early reviews:
- New York Times (Sara Mosle)
- The Nation (Dana Goldstein)
- Washington Post (Jay Mathews)
- Wall Street Journal (Joel Klein)
- “Fact-Checking pages 1-100 of Class Warfare“ (Gary Rubinstein)
- Education Week also published an article about the book’s revelations about the “Race to the Top” process
Related book reviews by Mark Welch:
- 2010: The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (Diane Ravitch)
- 2002: And Still We Rise: The Trials and Triumphs of Twelve Gifted Inner-City Students (Miles Corwin)
Disclaimer: The book links to Amazon.com are affiliate links (paid advertising).
I’d missed this August 1 CSPAN interview, in which Diane Ravitch interviews Steven Brill. Fascinating.
http://c-spanvideo.org/program/StevenB