C. Finn We must take charge - critical review - Book Report/Review Example

Critical review of we must take charge According to Chester Finn in his book We must take charge our Schools and our future (22), he urges the American people from all walks of life, race, creed and religion, to take charge of the deteriorating education system in public schools. He also notes that the system continues to lack responsibility and quality control and proposes a change, which is radical, to save the schools and the children attending them. The aim of his essay is to analyze the book critically and its suggestions that it makes towards the changing of public schools.

He claims that there is an illogicality that lies at the center of the educational problematic issue. Most people living in America admit the fact that public schools are a disaster, and polls constantly show that most parents, administrators and teachers think that their local schools and children are doing okay, with the current situation in schools (68). The implications of this ignorance are weighty, and until something is done, the standards of the public schools will go on declining. If people believe that their local schools and children are in expert hands and do well in their studies, then the parents, teachers and administrators should not feel obliged to change the situation to a better one.

Yet if, things are not changed for the better then we will go on watching the destruction of a school system that already lacks the liability and quality control and is overwhelmed by a teaching profession that has been compromised by trends, bad designs, uncertain theories, buck-passing and turgid practices (98). Throughout history, the concern of imparting values in public schools has been a persistent matter of concern and controversy (122). What responsibility, if any, should the school system has in imparting values to children?

Most school going children cannot tell the difference between wrong and right. It is this discrepancy that has contributed to most of the problems that the public school s are going through today. In addition, the children, especially the youth are faced with many choices to make, than in preceding years. Conventionally, adults have prompted the children with an earnest desire to live a life that is fulfilling and happy; they attempt to pass on the values that they have learnt to their children.

One setback with this advance is that it is becoming less effectual. This is because of lack of inconsistencies of the values from different directions like from parents, schools, church and magazines (162). In order to attain these changes, he offers guidelines for improving the education system of the public schools. Fundamentally, a national core curriculum that will occupy almost two-thirds of any school district’s curricular space, national standards for intellectual attainment, management of individual schools by their administrators and teachers, parental choice of school and a national testing system.

If all these are put in place, then we will achieve the expected results (212). Finn proposes radical changes to be made, which must be supported by all the American citizens if this degenerate is to be undone (222). He also insists that we should restructure the education system in relation to the results that we expect from it. This means ascertaining a clear cut set of rational realization that we will compel all of the schools to impose, and children to meet. The people involved need to re-establish instruction s around a national curriculum of vital subjects like science, history, math, geography, literature and writing, to describe this standard (226).

They must also demand a detailed flow of constructive information, which include consistent evaluation, about how the students are performing regarding this set standard. He also states that children should be given time, options, and a wide array of resources. The question that arises from this is that if the children are given many options, most of them would opt not to do what is required of them. For example, should they be given an option of watching television for two more hours or spending those hours studying and learning values?

If parents have choices in choosing which programs and schools best fits the needs of their children, they will have an additional motivation in helping their children to succeed both in education and life. Reviving the means of delivering education from the bottom up is essential, especially if done by vesting much authority with educators in individual schools, and hold them accountable for their performance. He maintains that in a version of cultural lag argument employed for years by liberal reformers, it has however, affected the schools today, which still remain a nineteenth century institution.

Given that it was originally designed to serve part of the population, it is inadequate to the job and is now asked to perform beyond its limits (262). Whereas it was once complemented by other agencies of education like the church and family, with the decline of the latter, it staggers under a large educational burden. The implementation of these measures that are radical is necessary for producing not only well-informed work force of the twenty first century that will maintain the competitiveness of the country, but knowledgeable, informed and reasoning citizens who are competent and able to participate in a democratic nation.

Work Cited Chester, Finn. We Must Take Charge: our Schools And our Future. New York: Free Press, 1993. Print.