Leaving School: Finding Education, A Short Book Review by Dr. Bob Dreyfus

The book, Leaving School: Finding Education is an analysis of the impact which public schools are having upon the nation.  It is a candid account of the state of public education in America.

The authors are both veteran educators.  Dr. Jon Wiles, has written a dozen texts in the area of educational leadership. He has worked as a consultant specializing in curriculum change in 40 states and 10 foreign nations. Dr. Wiles served as Professor of Education at the University of North Florida before his retirement.

Co-author Dr. John Lundt spent the first half of his career as a teacher and administrator in secondary public schools and for the past 15 years he has served as Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Montana where he teaches courses in curriculum leadership and futurism. Dr. Lundt has consulted with educational agencies in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East as well as in Canada and the United States.

The authors have placed themselves in harm’s way by speaking out on this issue. Every individual who has a concern for children and our nation needs to seriously consider what they have to say.

Excerpts from the Book:

“Schools are now in a dysfunctional state…The time has arrived for the United States to think seriously about bidding farewell to its [public] schools… they are a relic from another age… The school is responsible for increasing amounts of cultural decay and social dysfunction in our society…

“Schools have no hope of reforming themselves. There has been no lasting change in half a century. Schools cannot and will not change… Schools are resistant to changing; they have always been this way… Parents should be both frightened and outraged at this lack of relevance and this leadership incompetence…

“Schools are the largest impeding force in our nation… Schools are beginning to pull other institutional agencies downward… This is an institution, your authors believe, in its final days… An alternative must be found quickly. What we believe, after very full careers in schools as teachers, administrators, and curriculum leaders, is that defining any improvement in the school will be both a futile exercise and a self-defeating proposition…

“The American school cannot be fixed… We believe the United States must seriously explore abandoning the school as the vessel of learning and move to redefine education in terms of other options. We believe that a failure to break away, soon, will result in a surprising rapid deterioration of the institution, and the even further decline in the general culture of the United States…

“America can shed its final monopoly… We currently have all of the technology needed to provide a quality education to all students in the comfort and safety of their own homes… the authors believe we are poised, unknowingly, on the brink of a major change in education in the United States. Our schools while imposing in scale, are precariously fragile in reality. Any coalition of parents, taxpayers, businessmen, and concerned educators has the power to influence the most significant change in American education. The question is, ‘What are we waiting for?’”