Do we train or do we educate? The argument has been met since early Egypt. Are we simply to pass on the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of previous generations or are we to develop students who can think abstract thought, solve problems, establish theories and models? Argues that these questions must be addressed directly as we search for a purpose of schools and schooling.
The American public school system is the biggest business in the world. Too frequently the schools are still thought of as 'the little red schoolhouse' and are marketed to their many and varied clients as such. This book provides a method by which students of teaching and learning, school board members, superintendents of schools, school principals, state and federal lawmakers, educational agencies at all levels might use some of the private sector ideas to effectively and efficiently market their products to the right 'consumers.
Argues that the quality of education at the state or local level is not the federal government′s business. As a national concern, public education should be encouraged, that it maintain a high media profile and that both public and private schools be made more effective, efficient, and available. The federal government should not set one standard of rules and regulations for private schools and another for public schools. Both sectors should abide by the same rules. The public wants control of its schools at the local level.
Emphasizes the need to save public education in America as being essential to the “American way of life”. Pinpoints the lack of a generally accepted goal, the designing of school programmes to suit teachers, not the students, and the movement of state and federal government further into the leadership and day‐to‐day operation of schools, as the factors which have had a detrimental effect on public schools during the past generation. Lists a 12‐point agenda for getting the public schools back on course and advocates a study of public education to identify what the public wants, followed by a plan to implement a suitable education programme.
