Absolutely outstanding.

I love reading books that make me feel guilty for doing ALL THINGS wrong with my children.

Although I could not find it within myself to actually finish this book, I did get quite far, and definitely far enough to know my thoughts about it...
When the author proposes a statement, a viewpoint, or an idea, he then goes to justify his proposal with facts and/or statistics. While I believe it helps him establish his ethos, and it is much more believeable a book when he can sopport his claims, after a few of these, already enough to get you to say to yourself "Okay, I get it," he continues to state more justfifications, to where you begin to actually say outloud, "Okay, I GET IT!" However, him being an author he doesn't know what we are saying, so he simply continues to write although it has become, inevitably unnecessary.
Thus I believe his book is quite factual, and insightful as to the education systems of today's society, I believe he could've went about his reasoning in a much smoother, easy-to-read sort of way.

ehhh...It was ok but fairly repetitive. Long story short...we're all screwed

I had bought this book years ago and finally read it since I am on a mission to read all the books I've bought and then forgotten to read. It had some great information but it was also really dated and I wish I had read it sooner. Even though some of the information was older or focused on past education trends, his main point was right on target. And it was helpful to read about where we have been in education. One of Sykes main points was that education tends to just cycle through ideas whether they have worked or not and with some distance since its publishing, the book actually made his point for him. Trends that were popular when it was written have already gone out of style and are now coming back into vogue. It definitely makes you think twice about our school system and what we are expecting from the teachers who are getting over-worked by unrealistic expectations.

An expose of the demise of our public school system. I was especially struck by the continuance of Progressive ideologies from the late 19th-century that still pervade our schools. I am also peeved by the political clout of the NEA and other bureaucratic bigwig organizations. I guess the only solution is to teach our children to love learning in spite of all the humanistic garbage they get in the schools. Of course, in order to accomplish this, the adults must wake up, be the examples and love to learn...

This book looked better than it actually is. The author focuses on why the american school system doesn't prepare people good enough. And that's it. Apart from the fact that there is absolutely nothing that directly concerns Europe (so its basically useless to me), the author doesn't really adapt to nowadays society, meaning that all his advices are made for his generation, and he doesn't really understand that our generation, because it was raised differently, will live differently. So, no, sorry, i didn't appreciate this book.

My dad passed this book along to me after he read it. I think it always frustrated him that his kids (or, well, at least me—I can’t speak for the others) weren’t learning the “important stuff” in school—history, particularly, dates, wars, people, etc. And, maybe it frustrated him that he used to be a math teacher, and none of his kids really got any of those mathematician-genes of his.

This book’s focus is about how education is being dumbed-down to fit kids that are the lowest denominator. I.e., there are science classes that have 8th graders draw portraits of great scientists, instead of learning about scientists’ actual contributions to science. Schools are now not only in the business of teaching the 3 R’s, but also the teaching the “whole child” (emotional and physical health, values, safety, etc.) Additionally, much curriculum gets dumbed-down to make the school’s scores look better, and to make graduation rates higher, even if that means many children leave school completely unprepared for college or “the real world.”

Now, this book is on my “Didn’t Finish” bookshelf because, while many of the points the book made were interesting and insightful, I disagreed quite a bit with its rigid attitude about what ought to be taught in schools. It criticized schools that have too much emphasis on subjects such as art and gym class. Now, I may be no gym class fan, but I do know that it is promoting healthy living for a child to have a break in the day and run around for one period a day. And as for its various criticisms of art and creative instruction, that really bothered me. Of course, I don’t necessarily feel that art has a place in, say, a science class, but many “real world” jobs are creative by nature and I feel like it is a creative mind that can make a real difference, whether in academia or otherwise.

As Albert Einstein said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

To conclude, I don’t feel like you should not finish a book just because you don’t agree with its premise (how would we ever learn anything if that was our belief?) but I don’t feel guilty about gaining some degree of insight and then moving on. Is our education system flawed? Certainly. But I don’t feel like I’m any less intelligent because I never got a grasp on advanced algebra.

So this is a little old but I picked it up hoping for insight on OBE. It was very abrasive in tone and I skimmed/jumped through reading it. Very few insights found.

I have worked in higher education and secondary education for a combined 27 years and agree with many of the author's criticisms. This book was slammed when it came out but now with other reports and other educators 'blowing the whistle', this assertions are more concrete. This is not just an expose of what is still wrong with the American educational system but a call to arms to educators, parents and leaders. I encourage all to read this book.

You'll be ready to home school your kids after reading this book!

More frightening than any Stephen King book. The last section Sykes plays with fire by taking the moral high-ground, but the rest of the book is disturbing and excellent. Sykes is at his best sticking to facts and using anecdotal information.