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New School Manifesto: A Libertarian Look At American Education (2013)

by Ron Paul(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1455577162 (ISBN13: 9781455577163)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Grand Central Publishing

review 1: I was actually really disappointed in this book. Maybe I was expecting something a little different. I had anticipated stories of abuse from bureaucrats in the Department of Education and a historical look at public education and its many failures. Instead, I felt I was reading 200 pages of an advertisement for Ron Paul's homeschooling curriculum. There were a few good ideas in there that I agreed with, but overall it just didn't strike me as his best work. Much of the writing itself was abrupt and awkward as well.I've enjoyed his writing in the past, but not this time. Perhaps my expectations were too high.
review 2: I almost never award one star to books, but I'm rather angry with "The School Revolution"I bought the book for legitimate reasons:1. I have a... more generally positive impression of Ron Paul as somebody who speaks truth to power2. All I learned in school was how to quietly (or otherwise) count down 40 minutes3. My son just started school and I'm giving some serious thought to the idea of home schooling4. I would not know where to startI just finished this 205 page book (small pages, wide margins, probably a 150 page book in any other format) and I am none the wiser. This is only tangentially a book about home schooling. It is an advertisement for Ron Paul's forthcoming home schooling curriculum.I've paid GBP 14.99 to read an advertisement.The advertising copy reads as follows:* State school does the bidding of government because government bears the costs and "he who pays the piper calls the tune"* State school teaches our children to depend on government for help. It does not teach freedom and leadership* State school addresses the needs of the worst student, it is lowest-common-denominator schooling* Lecture hall / classroom teaching, which entails students furiously copying from the board, was fine for year 1450, but is now obsolete* These days, technology allows you to play back taped lectures* More to the point, technology brings better teaching tools to bear than lectures* Just as importantly, the Internet has brought down the cost of home schooling to virtually nil* Relative price adjustments are a powerful agent for change. The Post Office is now visibly doomed. State school will follow* Even including the opportunity cost of one parent giving up his/her job, all-in it isn't that costly to home school* ...especially if pupils accumulate through home schooling credits that count toward college.* Parents should steer clear of schools that lavish attention on their children because this stifles independence* A coddled student will find himself/herself lost in college. A good home schooling curriculum will emphasize self-learning* My curriculum will teach your kid how to become a leader and how to think freely* My curriculum will be complete by year 2015* Spread the word! Lend this book to a friend, but only for one week. Then lend it to somebody else.So there's a bunch of ideas here. Some seem exactly right, some I disagree with, while some are conspicuous through their absence.For example, I cannot agree enough with what Ron Paul has to say about lectures. They are a tragic waste of time. And it is no secret that school was instituted in the UK during the industrial revolution with the express purpose of making it possible for both parents to work a full day. Conversely, there's a bunch of things home schooling will never do. For example, if it wasn't for state school, where exactly would the children of immigrants learn proper English in a country like America that calls itself a melting pot? And the silence of this book on math and science (where in my view our schools fail the most criminally by the standard of this information age) is deafening.But all of this is beside the point.My main point is that this book is an advertisement for a product that is not yet for sale. Suppose I pull my kids out of school, put them on Ron Paul's program and next thing you know he changes his mind. Or he gets run over by a bus. Where am I left?Finish your curriculum, sir, then advertise.And for goodness' sake, DON'T MAKE ME PAY FOR YOUR ADVERTISEMENT. If I'm going to pay 15 quid for a book, don't insult me, show me the bloody curriculum. An outline! Something! I am soooo angry. I genuinely want my money back. less

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