Left behind : the public education crisis in the United States / Paul L. Jalbert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jalbert, Paul L., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public schools--United States.

Public schools.

United States.

Education--Aims and objectives--United States.

Education.

Education--Aims and objectives.

Education and state--United States.

Education and state.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 308 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.

Summary:

This book addresses the harmful influences that the cultural, social, economic, political and ideological dimensions, in current `American' society, have upon the delivery of elementary, secondary and university education. It examines the effects of poverty, funding at the local, state and federal levels and racial and ethnic discrimination. Arguing against the continuation of standardized testing-an ill-conceived methodology to measure the performance of children-the author advocates more one-on-one teaching and evaluation. He charges that students' rights to education are not respected and, in elementary and high school, receive little in the way of instruction that translates into life skills and proposes what some of those skills should be. A critique of the extreme ethnocentric approach to education in the United States, Left Behind advocates strong instruction in the Humanities and foreign languages and the establishment of education abroad as a permanent program in high school and university. The author identifies Capitalism as the basic influence that, in the form of employing `business model' constructs, has slowly transformed our children into obedient consumers. Physical Education has waned and become a major contributor to adolescent obesity. Seeking to replace children's complacency with critical thinking instruction, the author demonstrates how the corporate mass media occupy their minds. He also fears the erosion of the profession of teaching by an 'online' instruction frenzy.

Contents:

1 The Right to Education p. 17

2 'The Free Press' - on a corporate leash! p. 34

3 The Business Model p. 57

4 A Political Economy of Education p. 72

5 Poverty: the perennial problem p. 96

6 Discrimination: some structural suspects p. 109

7 The Teaching Profession p. 134

8 The Mismeasure of Students p. 164

9 What our Children do not Learn in High School, But Should p. 180

10 "What? I Need to Learn a Second Language?" p. 223

11 Cultural Arrogance p. 239

12 Orwell's Nightmare Achieved: the 'Colonization of the Mind' vs. Critical Thinking p. 255.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138091818

1138091812

9781138091825

1138091820

OCLC:

1035757177