The Education Wars
The culture war has engulfed our schools. Extremist groups are seeking to ban books, limit what educators can teach, and threatening the very foundations of public education. What’s behind these efforts? Why are our schools so vulnerable all of a sudden? And how can the millions of Americans who love their public schools begin to fight back?
In this concise, hard-hitting guide, journalist Jennifer Berkshire and education scholar Jack Schneider answer these questions and chart a way forward.
Surviving the Education Wars explains the sudden obsession with race and gender in schools, as well as the ascendancy of book banning efforts. It offers a clear analysis of school vouchers and the impact they’ll have on school finances. It deciphers the movement for “parents’ rights,” explaining the rights that students and taxpayers also have. And it reveals how the ostensible pursuit of “religious freedom” opens the door to discrimination against vulnerable children.
Berkshire and Schneider outline the core issues driving the education wars, offering essential information about issues, actors, and potential outcomes. In so doing, they lay out what is at stake for parents, teachers, and students and provide a roadmap for ensuring that public education survives this present assault.
A book that will enrage and enlighten the millions of citizens who believe in their public schools, here is a long-overdue handbook and guide to action.
A Citizen’s Guide and Defense Manual
Out now!
Authors
Jennifer Berkshire
Jennifer Berkshire writes about education and politics for the Nation, the New Republic, the Baffler, the New York Times, and other publications. The creator and co-host of the education policy podcast “Have You Heard,” she teaches in the Prison Education Program at Boston College. She is the author of two previous books, including A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School (with Jack Schneider).
Photography: © marilyn humphries
Jack Schneider
Jack Schneider is the Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he leads the Beyond Test Scores Project. An award-winning scholar, his work broadly explores the influence of history, culture, and rhetoric in education policy. The author of five previous books, Dr. Schneider writes frequently about education in outlets like the Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He is the co-founder of the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, co-host of the education policy podcast “Have You Heard,” and co-editor of History of Education Quarterly. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, where his daughter is enrolled in the public schools.