Reclaiming Our Schools: Whose Kids Are They, Anyway?

The two core ideas in educational consultant King's slim handbook are that, given adequate time and attention, all students can learn, and that schools have largely abandoned their mission of teaching useful knowledge. ""This book,"" he writes, ""is not to be a rehash of the problems of American education but rather, an exposure of many of the myths that drive current schooling practices."" Fueled by dismay at the poor showing of the United States in recent international comparisons of student learning, the book sounds many familiar notes. Although King says that no arguments for or against his proposals should be made without ""supporting research to back up the argument,"" he provides only minimal documentation of the studies he relies on himself. Repeating a mantra of ""learning outcomes"" and ""mastery standards,"" King relies on a management model of education in which parents are stockholders, teachers are managers and students are workers. Needless to say, he is firmly against teachers' unions and has little good to say about college professors. Rarely offering a development of its proposals and criticisms beyond a few paragraphs, the book is also marred by a clumsy style. King's nostalgic prescriptions imply a static, homogeneous student body that simply does not exist in most schools today. (Sept.)