Education Advisory

I am convinced that the one reform that will vastly improve public schools is parent involvement in running them. Just as it’s done in private and independent schools.

I will bring forth literature: books, research, reports, etc. that support this position or illustrate conditions that would be helped by providing more parent voice.
The literature I am acquainted with is a mixed bag, some from as far back as the 50’s when So Little for the Mind was written by Hilda Neatby and I was a college student and quite shocked by it. I now list some of the material I will provide reviews on as time goes on.

1. So Little for the Mind, Hilda Neatby
2. Letter to a Teacher, by the Schoolboys of Barbiana (with postscripts by Robert Coles and John Holt (1970)
3. The Peter Principle: Why things always go Wrong, Dr. Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull, 1969 (because it was while working in the Vancouver school system that Dr. Peter discovered these precious insights about human behavior in institutions: e.g., “People rise to the highest level of their incompetency”
4. Active Parent Concern, a new home guide to help your child do better in School, Dr. Terrel H. Bell, 1976
5. Deschool Society, Ivan Illich
6. The Worm in the Apple, How Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education, Peter Brimelow, 2003
7. The Dark Side of School Reform, Jeffrey Brooks, 2006
8. Dumbing us Down, the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, John Taylor Gatto, 1992
9. Failing our Kids, How we are Ruining our Public Schools, Charles Ungerleider, 2003
10. Hold On to your Kids, Why Parents Matter, Gordon Newfeld, Gabor Mate, 2004
11. Grading the Teacher, A Canadian Parent’s Guide, Nellie Jacogs, 1996
12. About Schools, What Every Parent Should Know, Dr. Robert Stamp, 1975
13. John Holt Books
14. A Nation At Risk, US Report on Education
15. James Coleman research
16. Worlds Apart, the Home and the School
17. Family Matters, Why Homeschooling Makes Sense, David Guterson, 1992
18. Separating School and State, How to Liberate America’s Families, Sheldon Richman, 1994
19. Public Education, An Autopsy, Myron Lieberman, 1993
20. Beyond Public Education, Myron Lieberman, 1986
21. The Teacher Unions, How they sabotage education reform and why, 2000
22. The Politics of the PTA, Charlene K. Haar, 2002
23. Educatiors on Trial, the identification and prevention of classroom malpractice Dr. James Leary, 1981
24. The Spike, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Robert Moss, 1980 (a novel)