The Harsh Truth About Public Schools
by Bruce N. Shortt
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bruce N. ShorttEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-11-01
ISBN: 1891375237
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Chalcedon/Ross House Books
Book Reviews of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools
Book Review: The truth is harsh alright
Summary: 5 Stars
If you believe that the public schools are basically good, you're in for a shock. The truth is, as the title suggests, very harsh. If you read this book and still think that it's OK for a Christian to go to public school or that the public schools are doing a good job teaching academics, I rather suspect you're either living in denial or certifiably insane.
If you have kids in the public schools, or if you're even thinking about sending your kids to public schools, you NEED to read this book; this is quite possibly THE most important book you'll ever read about your kids' education.
If you're thinking about homeschooling your kids or sending them to private school, read this book; I think it will make your decision very easy. In fact, I don't see how anyone in their right mind could decide to do anything BUT home school their kids or send them to a Christian school after reading this book.
I can't stress enough how critical it is that you read this book. Even if - or maybe especially if - you're satisfied with how your public schools are performing, PLEASE read this book.
Here are just a few of the facts this book exposes that public schools:
- Are humanist to the core. They are blatantly promoting secularist and New Age ideas. There is little hope of reforming them.
Many Christians are still under the illusion that government schools can be run as Protestant schools; they can't. The idea that some minor reform, like getting prayer back in schools, will fix the public schools is absurd. The public schools are, always have been, and probably always will be anti-Christian. A few minutes of prayer to a non-specific deity will not counteract hours of indoctrination in humanism the rest of the day.
- Have little or no discipline.
- Consistently skirt accountability by lowering standards.
- Continue to use bad methods even after they've been disproven.
- Will, and often do, stoop to lying, cheating, deception, and other similar tactics to prevent the public from knowing what's really going on.
- Routinely hire unqualified teachers and then lower certification standards to cover that up.
- Are drugging people with ADHD medication who clearly don't need it.
- Are nearly impossible to reform.
- Etc.
This is a thoroughly devastating critique of the government school system that shows how they consistently fail kids. Moreover, there is no hope of reforming them; the ONLY solution is to withdraw your kids from government schools. There is arguably no greater threat to a free society than government schools, especially if they make attendance mandatory.
As mentioned above, he shows that "reforms" like the No Child Left Behind Act don't work and probably never will. Even stuff that many conservatives would probably like, such as "no tolerance" policies towards weapons, have become absurd tools to punish the innocent in the hands of education administrators. He compares trying to reform public schools to trying to nail Jello to the wall.
There are a few weaknesses, however. There were a few minor errors here and there; for example, the author referred to the current governor of Illinois as "Ray Blagojevich" instead of "Rod Blagojevich." While he provides a lot of interesting arguments regarding ADHD, one of his key arguments strikes me as an argument from ignorance; maybe I'm misinterpreting him, but he seems to be saying here that "we don't know the physical cause of ADHD, so there must not be one," which is a fallacious argument. Absence of proof is not proof of absence, nor does the fact that we don't know the physical cause prove there isn't one. Scientists don't know the physical cause of schizophrenia either (or, for that matter, a lot of other diseases); does that prove that there isn't one? Other than those problems, his argument was typically quite strong.
Overall, I recommend this book very strongly. This is something that every Christian should read, especially if you have kids in public school or are thinking about sending them to public school. Even if this doesn't describe you, you should read the book anyway because it will help you understand our current situation and to advise others on the topic. I urge you to read this very important book.
I would recommend reading "Whoever Controls the Schools Rules the World" by Gary Demar in addition to this book. He focuses in particular on issues like the supposed neutrality of schools and the schools as agents of social change.
Summary of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools
Bruce Shortt's book, The Harsh Truth about Public Schools, combines a sound Biblical basis, rigorous research, straightforward, easily read language, and eminently sound reasoning. Whether one is a parent or parent-to-be, pastor, church staff member, or educator, this book has much to offer. It is based, first of all, upon a clear understanding of God's educational mandate to parents. Its second foundation is a thoroughly documented description of the inescapably anti-Christian thrust of any governmental school system and the inevitable results: moral relativism (no fixed standards), academic dumbing down, far-left programs, near absence of discipline, and the persistent but pitiable rationalizations offered by government education professionals.Education Books
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