The Manufactured Crisis by David C Berliner and Bruce J Biddle Possible Lives by Mike Rose
Altbach, Philip G
NOT TO WORRY Hie Manufactured Crisis Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle Addison-Westey, $25,412 pp. Possible Lives The Promise of...
...Possible Lives tells the story of teachers and children at schools across the nation...
...One hopes that these books will receive even a tenth of the attention lavished on the likes of William Bennett or Diane Ravitch...
...They also point out that there is much research that says the SAT does not have much predictive power anyway...
...Contrary to the criticism, they claim that funding plays a central role in determining school quality and student achievement...
...Kozol argues that the vast differences in funding are part of the pattern of inequality...
...But they fail to discuss a considerable body of research indicating that "time on task" affects learning and achievement...
...Berliner and Biddle contest other "facts""about the undersupply of scientists and engineers (they don't see a shortage), the poor quality of teacher education (it has significantly improved and, anyway, most education majors have a strong liberal arts background before they take professional courses), and the claim that private schools are better than public schools...
...The authors, both prominent educational researchers, painstakingly pick apart the claims made by the critics of the schools over the past decade...
...While there is some discussion of the comparisons of U.S...
...And they argue that public education is not in crisis...
...There is some evidence that American schools spend less time on subject-matter instruction than schools in many other countries...
...Despite some shortcomings, The Manufactured Crisis is an important book not only because it provides a thoughtful alternative perspective on current debates about public education, but because it cogently argues that much of that debate is politically motivated and is part of a well-orchestrated and funded critique of the public schools...
...He was careful to choose schools which were not in the wealthy suburbs...
...There is a certain "gee whiz" tone to Possible Lives...
...While the crisis discussed in this book may be manufactured by the conservatives, Berliner and Biddle can also be accused of selectively using data...
...Contrary to the critics, they claim that student achievement has not seriously declined...
...They point to what they call "myths" about American education...
...The authors see the public schools as the essential cornerstone of American education and a central element in the social fabric...
...The authors' reading of the research results is at variance with the mainstream debate...
...Mike Rose, a professor of education at UCLA, has written a paean of praise for America's public schools...
...During the Reagan and Bush administrations, and especially during the term of office of William Bennett as secretary of education, there was nonstop criticism of public education...
...Berliner and Biddle bring a sense of outrage to their analysis"as researchers themselves, they are shocked that others would fudge the data, provide incomplete analysis, and on occasion deliberately mislead the public...
...Kids want to learn, and the schools Rose writes about teach them, and also provide a supportive social environment...
...For example, the small declines nationally in SAT test scores are not statistically significant, they argue...
...There is, of course, nothing wrong with highlighting good things, but the stories told in Possible Lives, while heart-warming, do not provide us with the tools for improving education"or even of understanding the context of the good and the bad in the schools...
...Philip C. AKbach These books are a welcome antidote to the gloom and doom that one constantly reads about the state of public education in America...
...While there is no crisis, the authors concede there are problems...
...Their basic argument is that American education is not in crisis, and that in fact it does a pretty good job under increasingly difficult circumstances, and that the critics are motivated by ideology and not a concern for the nation's children...
...These problems can be solved by more adequate funding, more research, and more compassion...
...Berliner and Biddle go on to discuss many of the other measures of student achievement used by the critics, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and provide an alternative explanation of each that shows a more positive picture of school achievement...
...The heart of the book is the critique...
...Of course, there are great examples of commitment and accomplishment...
...Berliner and Biddle go on to argue that the Clinton administration has absorbed some of the rhetoric of the Republicans" it is not coincidental, they claim, that Clinton's educational proposal, Goals 2000, has a title quite similar to Bush's America 2000...
...Both books have an explicit political agenda"to provide some counter arguments to the drumbeat of school bashing that has characterized so much of the public discourse on education since the 1983 Education Department Nation at Risk report...
...Their aim is to get people to think seriously about underlying assumptions and about the use of complex research data...
...Rose spent several years looking in on schools in such places as the California-Mexico border, Los Angeles, Montana, Mississippi, New York City...
...One wonders, however, if Mike Rose has read Jonathan Kozol's moving Savage Inequalities, which points to examples of awful neglect and terrible standards in some schools, especially in the inner cities...
...Possible Lives The Promise of Public Education in America Mike Rose Houghton Mifflin, $24.95,453 pp...
...Such examples of poor education could no doubt be found within a few miles of Rose's UCLA campus...
...They also cite the tremendous problems faced by the public schools, especially those in the cities serving populations with low incomes and a multiplicity of social problems...
...The authors argue that more equality in funding would result in overall improvement...
...Berliner and Biddle argue that the educational debate has been highjacked by what they call the "far right/' the "religious right/' and the "neoconserva-tives," with the help of conservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation...
...Dramatic discrepancies in funding exist between wealthy, largely suburban districts and the large public school systems...
...We do need a real debate about public education...
...Further, the number of students taking the SAT has dramatically increased, and a much more varied group is now taking the exam...
...The abdication of the federal government from supporting public education is also criticized...
...For example, they point out that there is little evidence that simply lengthening the school day or year results in more learning...
...The Manufactured Crisis is a sophisticated critique of school bashing, followed by some not terribly revolutionary proposals...
...student achievement with other countries, the authors do not successfully refute a very large body of research that consistently ranks Americans lower...
...He has selected success stories, and feelingly writes of the commitment of teachers, principals, parents, and communities working in difficult circumstances...
Vol. 123 • April 1996 • No. 7
