Who Controls American Education? A Guide for Laymen

"An informative, sardonic book by James D. Koerner asks the Who Controls American Education? and answers by saying nobody, really - except the professional educators. By professional educators, Koerner does not mean classroom teachers. He means, among other people, the groups who control teachers' education and have a disproportionate influence in the administration of the schools - the National Education Association in its many guises, especially its administrative groups, the state departments of education, the departments and schools of education in colleges and universities, the educational accrediting organizations, and other Livingston St....Teachers ought to have a strong say in what goes on in schools, particularly in their own classrooms. But parents and laymen ought to have a say, too, and, Koerner demonstrates that this is not the case in this country, contrary to what many think. Most of our school systems - small ones, as well as big city mammoths - are fantastically remote from those they serve...Koerner has done a service in pointing out an educational problem that is seldom touched on, but which will figure in all our school controversies over the next decade."-Joseph Featherstone, The New Republic