The Conspiracy of Ignorance: The Failure of American Public Schools

by Martin L. Gross

Book Overview

Never before have public school students been so poorly educated. On national exams, almost 40 percent of fourth graders are reading at below basic levels, and in international contests in math and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060194588
• ISBN13: 9780060194581
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Very empowering, very informed, very scary

As I was reading this book, some of the passages I read had me nearly setting the book down to go call my congresspeople. The book's too interesting, though, and I just had to finish it. Now, I'm torn. I will homeschool my children. That, however, does not exempt me from caring about the education of my neighbor's kids or the kids who will eventually be driving and working and living near me. So, what do I need to do? This book offers so many suggestions and demands for improvements that it's easy enough to write them down and mail the list off to your congresspeople. It's not that hard to contact every member of your local school board and recommend these changes be put into effect. A letter to the local school superintendent is a good idea. Read this book. If you've ever wondered what could be done about the constant news reports of kids not knowing where DC is or not knowing how to do addition without a calculator, read this book. You will be horrified to find what the cause is. It's not too little money. It's not too little caring. One note of caution: if your kids are in school now it will scare the stuffings out of you and not in a good way.

Sad...but true from cover to cover...

The author of this book is absolutely right on in every respect concerning the state of public school education and the preparation of our teachers and adminstrators. I suspected this for years when i was in college observing practices in the school of education though never a part of it thank God! Then the impressions i got from my children's teachers during parent teacher conferences years later. I thought these people seemed ignorant! But I put it out of my mind as most people do. My degree is in a real field so perhaps I am not qualified in judging "professional educators". After reading it all in this book and others I realized that my suspicions were true! As Mr. Gross states, all schools of education should be abolished at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels and prospective teachers required to take real degrees in real fields. Upon graduation they should then be required to take a semester in teaching techniques and one semester internship in student teaching though I don't personally think this is essential. The best math teacher i ever had in high school was a retired electrical engineer! He was not certified by the establishment and probably didn't know anything about educational psychology...he was just good!

Challenging the Educational Establishment

Author Martin Gross does an excellent job challenging the educational establishment's claim that poor student performance over the last thirty years is due largely to factors outside of the classroom. In a hard hitting way, Gross articulates that the establishment -- teachers, administrators, and education buearucrats are responsible for low performance, due to their quest with new ideas and the mandate for a growing educational bureaucracy.I started reading this book while doing research on American class-size reduction policy, and had revealed to me little discussed arguments against current educational policy, as well-as how and why the facts are supressed.If you question the value of the education your children are recieving, or are interested in the "school choice" debate, you'll probably find it hard to put this book down. Given the straight-forward arguments of Gross, I look forward to reading his other books as well.

The Conspiracy Widens

Gross may be guilty of an occasional lapse, but the bottom-line truth of the matter is that he is right, right, right. As a professor at major state university, I can attest to the veracity of his claims. The average entering freshman is broadly ignorant: of language, literature, mathematics, science, history, geography and the arts. Grammar is an enigma; spelling a mystery; vocabulary, a shrunken facsimile of what a high school graduate should command. As to "critical thinking," one of the more sacred heffers in the educrat herd, all too many incoming students couldn't reason their way out of a paper bag if their lives hung in the balance. And by the time, they reach college, it's too late.One point, which Gross omits, merits extended discussion. The same folks who gave gave us the disaster that is K-12 are now in the universities: promoting their ill-founded theories with evangelical fervor; dismissing basic skills as non-essentials; pushing hard for diminished expectations. Paradoxically, they use the fact that "Johnny can't read" to discourage us from demanding that he learn. Neither appeals to fact nor reason, will change their opinions. Only a diminution of their ability to dictate policy will suffice. Yes, indeed, Gross is right. In America's classrooms, the blind are leading those with the potential to see. Shut down the normal schools.

Outstanding, insightful work

I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Gross' painfully honest review of today's teachers. It is the first book I have read that portrays today's education professional with realism. Hopefully, more parents will read this book and understand the motives of the Establishment and immediately work to improve the situation in their school systems. I know I am...