Saving America's Schools

About the Book

Out of the hills of Kentucky and Southern Indiana comes a teacher’s voice crying for a completely new approach to public education. A 30-year veteran of public education in 4 states, the author marshals some convincing arguments that the worst enemy of public education is itself and that the school administrations in most school systems are very definitely guilty of self-perpetuating and extending that failure. While hiding behind the façade of competent, caring administrators, all too many superintendents and principals are guilty of placing the almighty dollar first, their own reputations second and students a poor third.

The writer places the blame for all of this failure on the heads of school administrations while not excusing the culpability of teachers and parents for believing those who try to convince them that education is available for everyone if the correct “magic” curricula, programs, methods, etc. are followed carefully and proper testing is done correctly. Public education is still only educating those students who come to school properly motivated or who are fortunate enough to find those few teachers who are willing to buck the system and teach the children, not the tests, the curricula or the currently popular (and ever-changing) programs.

In answer to the inevitable questions of whether or not the system is worth preserving and what might be done to make a serious attempt at educating every child, the author proposes some interesting and thought provoking strategies. Radically different than those proposed by the Bush administration, these strategies are possible on any level from a single classroom to an entire nation. Saving America’s Schools is a must-read for every serious educator, every parent and every concerned citizen in this country.

About the Author

John Harvey is a veteran teacher of four states and four different school systems who provides the reader with a tantalizing glimpse of what schools are like and what they could become. Some of Mr. Harvey’s students are today successful lawyers, businessmen and businesswomen, best selling authors and entrepreneurs while some of them have died or gone to prison. Most of the ones he has been able to keep track of over the years have led relatively successful lives, happy in their choices of career fields, good husbands, fathers, mothers and wives and solid, tax-paying, regularly voting citizens. “I believe that a good teacher can turn around many students and change their lives!” he has stated on many occasions. “I also believe that a poor teacher or a poor school can virtually destroy a student’s life, certainly tainting their chances for happiness and feelings of self-worth.”

Mr. Harvey lives in southern Indiana and is married with 8 children and (currently) 17 grandchildren. More are expected.