Fertilizers, Pills & Magnetic Strips: The Fate of Public Education in America - Softcover

Glass, Gene V

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593118929 ISBN 13: 9781593118921

Publisher: Information Age Publishing, 2008

Synopsis

"We shape our tools and then they shape us." With these words, Kenneth Boulding captured one of the great truths of the modern world. In Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips, Gene V Glass analyzes how a few key technological inventions changed culture in America and how public education has changed as a result. Driving these changes are material self-interest and the desire for comfort and security, both of which have transformed American culture into a hyper-consuming, xenophobic society that is systematically degrading public education. Glass shows how the central education policy debates at the start of the 21st century (vouchers, charter schools, tax credits, high-stakes testing, bilingual education) are actually about two underlying issues: how can the costs of public education be cut, and how can the education of the White middle-class be "quasi-privatized" at public expense? Working from the demographic realities of the past thirty years, he projects a challenging and disturbing future for public education in America. Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips is attracting the attention of the nation's foremost education scholars.

About this title

About the Author:

Gene V Glass is an American academic working in the social sciences. He coined the term "meta-analysis" and illustrated its use in 1976 while a faculty member at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The most extensive illustration of the technique was to the literature on psychotherapy outcome studies, published in 1980 by Johns Hopkins University Press under the title Benefits of Psychotherapy by Mary Lee Smith, Gene V Glass, and Thomas I. Miller. In 1986, Glass joined the faculty of the Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.  Gene V Glass is a Regents' Professor at Arizona State University. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Education. In 2006, he was honored with the Distinguished Contributions to Educational Research Award of the American Educational Research Association.

Review:

...a wake up call to America about the disastrous consequences of current policies that shortchange the education of the coming majorityLatinos and other minority studentson whom the very future of the nation rests. --Patricia Gandara

The book makes such impressive sense that one has to believe that its clarity, command of the facts, eye for absurdity, and concern for justice will garner greater support for public education as a common and noble cause. --John Willinsky

This is the first credible book of the 21st century to anticipate the future of public education. --David C. Berliner

All readers will find much to stimulate their thinking. Its breadth and scope, the variety of data explored, and the stark nature of the argument will provoke both thought and emotion. ~Benjamin Levin --Education Policy Analysis Archives

About this edition

• Publisher: Information Age Publishing
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1593118929
• ISBN 13: 9781593118921
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 328