Title: Breaking Free: Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice
Publisher: Encounter Books, San Francisco
Publication Date: 2003
Language: English
ISBN 10: 1893554074
ISBN 13: 9781893554078
Binding: Hard Cover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Book Type: Education

About this title

Synopsis

The first book to transform school choice from an abstract policy issue into a question of basic personal freedom--and indeed, for minority children at the bottom of the social ladder, into a question of survival.

Reviews

Using engaging personal narrative, journalist Stern explores the demand for school choice among inner-city families. He takes readers on his personal journey from left-wing politics in the 1960s, when he edited and wrote for the leftist magazine Ramparts, to his current position as champion for the libertarian right in its relentless crusade to privatize education. Stern excels in presenting historical detail, and his history of the politics of New York City public schools and their teachers' unions is both revealing and instructive. He is also a captivating storyteller, and his point of view, as a parent of New York City schoolchildren, sets his book somewhat apart from other ideological discourses in the annals of think tank-sponsored "school choice" writings. As a leftist turned "educational traditionalist," Stern uses political metaphors cleverly: there is a "Berlin Wall" between private and public schooling that must be broken down for liberty to flourish; teachers' unions are the "ruling class in education" and the school choice movement is "countercultural in the best sense of the word." Stern makes a strong case for dismantling public education and subjecting it to market forces. However, his book grasps educational theories and practices only at a superficial level. He calls well-researched theories of cognition progressive educational "fads" and sees multicultural education as "political correctness" that hurts black children. These weaknesses lessen Stern's credibility, but his account will be of interest to those engaged in the school choice debate.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When his son Jonathan was accepted at New York's premier elementary school, P.S. 87, city-schools-educated Stern presumed the boy was off to a good start. He was, though not as good a start as Stern's own in 1941. In the intervening decades, the teachers' union (a 1950s innovation) and a mushrooming, politicized education bureaucracy had rendered most city schools ungovernable and scholastically ineffective. Even P.S. 87 and the secondary schools both Stern boys attended--all among the system's finest--were forced by union work rules to tolerate incompetent senior teachers and teachers who wouldn't put in a minute more than the contractual 6-hour-and-20-minute day. Ultimately, Stern and his wife had to resort to supplementary homeschooling to help their sons attain the highest scholastic levels. They succeeded at that, but what, Stern tellingly asks, are less well educated and more time-constrained parents to do? Ultimately, Stern advances education vouchers as a means for fostering better schools and argues for them more persuasively, because less ideologically, than do most other voucher-boosters. Meanwhile, he has told his case history in the union-and-bureaucracy-hamstrung New York system and presented a brief against the teachers' unions that vitally supplements such looser, more general arguments as Peter Brimelow's Worm in the Apple [BKL F 1 03]. Ray Olson
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Store Description

Located in the Greater Birmingham area of central Alabama, our store offers for sale via mail order and through the internet, almost entirely to customers found through Internet contacts, thousands of books and other media of both popular and academic research interest. Focusing primarily on non-fiction books, we have a high concentration of items in such subjects as political science, philosophy, economics, religion and theology, science, literature and literary criticism, Alabama and Southern history,the American Civil War, Military History and War, Americana and many more such areas. We have many items pertaining to ideology, whether it be conservatism, libertarianism, free market economics, socialism, or communism, including many congressional reports on communist activities. We also have quite a few reference books, especially bibliographies.

Visit Seller's Storefront

Seller's business information

Sessions Book Sales
AL, U.S.A.

Sale & Shipping Terms

Terms of Sale

AbeBooks processes payments throiugh the use of bank and credit cards; this is for both orders received from customers residing in the US as well as customers from outside the US. We do not have separate credit card services. If you would like to use some other means for paying for your purchases we accept Paypal, checks, cash and money orders (applies to US residents). For international orders we accept Paypal, American currency (cash) and International Postal Money Orders, all in American doll...

More Information

Shipping Terms

Orders usually ship within 2 business days. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required. For orders to residents in the US, we have a standard media mail fee of $3.99, with $1 per book for each additional item. Standard priority shipping is $7.35, with an additional $2 for each additional item added to the order. We will include insurance on any purchase amounting to $50 or more. In terms of packaging, we generally use several layers of packaging to protect the items from damage. In some cases we will add cardboard or boxes for additional protection. Most book orders weigh roughly one to three pounds, except in the cases where multiple books are ordered. With regard to orders destined for addresses outside the US, we offer two choices--international first class and international priority. The weight limit on international first class is four pounds. If your order weighs more than four pounds or otherwise does not fit with US Postal Service regulations then your only other option is international priority. Concerning priority shipping, the rate charged varies from one country to the next. Items that are heavier or otherwise larger than normal will of course cost more to ship. We will advise you of any potential increases in shipping rates before proceeding any further with fulfillment with your order.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.

Shipping rates within U.S.A.
Order quantity	5 to 14 business days	3 to 6 business days
First item	US$ 4.35	US$ 9.90

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.