A review by stuhlsem
Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools by Steven Brill
3.0
I don't even know where to start. This book was fascinating at the same time as being terrifying.
While it is presented as an overview of education reform, Class Warfare actually reads like a pro-charter-schools manifesto. Steven Brill uses some statistics but mostly anecdotes to tell about certain charter schools that vastly outperform their neighbors. While there are, undoubtedly, some fabulous charter schools and some superstar educators all over, the book never felt like a real, balanced look at how we can fix our educational system.
Regardless of my personal feelings for charter schools, Steven Brill didn't actually use any real numbers or facts to convince. While his anecdotes do show that a couple programs in NYC are excellent, they don't show that charters would fix education. Additionally, there were no citations, and it was very difficult to find out where his numbers were coming from at any given point. He argues passionately against teacher unions throughout the entire book, and then at the end, praises them for their future role in retraining teachers. He praises Scott Walker's efforts to destroy collective bargaining in Wisconsin, but then claims not only that Scott Walker went too far, but that it was the unions' fault.
Steven Brill seems to believe that it is both possible and necessary for schools to be run like businesses and by businessmen. He does not address the many businessmen that have absolutely no idea of how education works, and he seems to expect all teachers to work 20 hour days, seven days a week. He wants to give principals ultimate power over hiring and firing teachers, but doesn't even acknowledge the possibility of incompetent or malicious principals. He does, however, acknowledge incompetent and malicious teachers. The double standard continues throughout the book--Brill focuses on burnt-out or undertrained teachers whose students underperform, and his solution is to allow principals to fire them.
While Brill does point out some very important problems within the school system--in certain states, it is impossible to remove teachers for any reason, some pension plans encourage teachers to remain in the classroom long after everybody wishes they would leave, young teachers are forced out of schools because of budget issues--his solution doesn't seem realistic, or even very good.
While it is presented as an overview of education reform, Class Warfare actually reads like a pro-charter-schools manifesto. Steven Brill uses some statistics but mostly anecdotes to tell about certain charter schools that vastly outperform their neighbors. While there are, undoubtedly, some fabulous charter schools and some superstar educators all over, the book never felt like a real, balanced look at how we can fix our educational system.
Regardless of my personal feelings for charter schools, Steven Brill didn't actually use any real numbers or facts to convince. While his anecdotes do show that a couple programs in NYC are excellent, they don't show that charters would fix education. Additionally, there were no citations, and it was very difficult to find out where his numbers were coming from at any given point. He argues passionately against teacher unions throughout the entire book, and then at the end, praises them for their future role in retraining teachers. He praises Scott Walker's efforts to destroy collective bargaining in Wisconsin, but then claims not only that Scott Walker went too far, but that it was the unions' fault.
Steven Brill seems to believe that it is both possible and necessary for schools to be run like businesses and by businessmen. He does not address the many businessmen that have absolutely no idea of how education works, and he seems to expect all teachers to work 20 hour days, seven days a week. He wants to give principals ultimate power over hiring and firing teachers, but doesn't even acknowledge the possibility of incompetent or malicious principals. He does, however, acknowledge incompetent and malicious teachers. The double standard continues throughout the book--Brill focuses on burnt-out or undertrained teachers whose students underperform, and his solution is to allow principals to fire them.
While Brill does point out some very important problems within the school system--in certain states, it is impossible to remove teachers for any reason, some pension plans encourage teachers to remain in the classroom long after everybody wishes they would leave, young teachers are forced out of schools because of budget issues--his solution doesn't seem realistic, or even very good.