American fourth graders score twelfth in the world in math skills, after Latvia and Hungary. Our eighth graders are fifteenth, below Malaysia and Slovakia. And by the time they’re fifteen years old, our students have slipped off the map—to twenty-fourth place internationally.

If these stats don’t make you angry or ashamed or plain sad, then at the very least they should make you afraid. If matters don’t change soon, tens of millions of our sons and daughters will grow up unable to function—let alone compete—in a global economy. And the impact of that on all of us will be devastating.

All is not lost, though, says Rudy Crew, who has headed some of the largest and most daunting school systems in America. Not by any means.

Only Connect is a call for not just parents but the entire nation to reconceive our relationship with public education. If we’re to survive, we must place our schools at the center of our communities and partner with them to produce children with the full set of the tools they’ll need—personal, civic, and occupational as well as academic—to face the economic challenges that lie ahead. Much like Thomas Friedman in The World Is Flat, Crew shows us the reality of our schools in a new century, and what we each must do to create the next generation of mature and conscious contributors to society. From parents who demand only the best from their children and their schools, through our teachers and administrators, all the way to Washington, D.C., everyone has a role in restoring American education and America’s competitive edge.

About the Author

Dr. Rudy Crew is the superintendent of Miami Dade County public schools, the fourth-largest school system in the country. He was formerly the chancellor of New York public schools, the nation's largest system. He has been superintendent or deputy superintendent in Tacoma, Sacramento, and Boston.

Thomas Dyja is the author of the award-winning novel Play for a Kingdom, among others. He has worked as an editor, book packager, and bookseller. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.

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