Reclaiming Our Children, Reclaiming Our Schools
Reversing Privatization and Recovering Democracy in America's Public Schools
By (author) Eric Shyman
Not available to order
Publication date:
16 December 2016Length of book:
129 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781475829914
Reclaiming Our Children,Reclaiming our Schools offers both a comprehensive censure of the current corporate interest in privatizing public schooling as well as a framework for attaining meaningful education reform based in democracy and the combined will of the public. Using current research and sound philosophical and ethical arguments, Shyman argues for more attention to be paid to teacher expertise, participatory democratic practices, genuine valuation of ethnic and cultural diversity, attention to global citizenship and cooperation, and the prevention of private profit-based interests in public schooling policy and practice. By returning the power of the public school to the public and the true experts, public schools can become the most important tool in securing genuine cultural growth leading to a stronger, safer and more cooperative nation and world.
Timely and provocative, this book traces the private takeover of American public schools, a movement that has sacrificed the democratizing potential of public education and exacerbated the academic and social wellbeing of children from marginalized groups. Going beyond critique, Eric Shyman offers an inspiring and comprehensive plan of action that calls for reclaiming public schools by decentralizing control of education, elevating the role of teachers in educational decision-making, promoting culturally and linguistically responsive teaching, and adopting a curriculum that nurtures global citizenship. Reclaiming our children, Reclaiming our Schools is a must-read for parents, teachers, school administrators, teacher educators, and others committed to making schools democratic and just.