A. Rivera reviewed The blackboard and the bottom line by Larry Cuban
Review of 'The blackboard and the bottom line' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Once in a while I read books that may make a point or two, but are overall terrible. This was one of them. I read it back in 2005. Here are some of my notes from my journal back then:
>>From the title, this book suggested an interesting reading, as I am always interested in books about education. This one was written in what can only be described as a soporific and sluggish writing style.
I found interesting the historical parallels between the progressive movement of the late 19th century and the reform movements of the 1970s, both driven by business interests. Who says history does not repeat itself? Santayana was definitely right about those who fail to study history. Interesting also, to say the least, is the fact that business often tries to drive reforms in the midst of its own problems: mismanagement, bad CEOs, failures, so on, but …
Once in a while I read books that may make a point or two, but are overall terrible. This was one of them. I read it back in 2005. Here are some of my notes from my journal back then:
>>From the title, this book suggested an interesting reading, as I am always interested in books about education. This one was written in what can only be described as a soporific and sluggish writing style.
I found interesting the historical parallels between the progressive movement of the late 19th century and the reform movements of the 1970s, both driven by business interests. Who says history does not repeat itself? Santayana was definitely right about those who fail to study history. Interesting also, to say the least, is the fact that business often tries to drive reforms in the midst of its own problems: mismanagement, bad CEOs, failures, so on, but people overlook these and keep believing for some reason that escapes me. People, some with good intentions, others with self-interest seem to be conveniently forgetful when it comes to the business community. It must be noted also that very often schools are blamed for social ills, and then society's "experts" turn around and expect those schools to fix those same social ills they decried. Talk about ironic.<<
And thinking about it three years later or so, clearly the situation has not changed. If anything, it has gotten worse, and yet we keep bailing big corporate interests instead of letting them fail as they should be allowed to do. After all, if they can be big boys when the times are good, when they screw up, let them fail and suffer the consequences of the risks they took instead of whining to the government to save them. And they, of course, are the same ones whining about how kids are poorly educated, etc. Is their example really what is needed to fix education? Food for thought, but this is not the book to really think about these issues.