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The Amazon Store at MillionDollarPetPix.com ( In association with Amazon.com )Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Realityby: Charles Murray  List Price: $24.95 Amazon.com's Price: $16.47 You Save: $8.48 (34%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 370.973 EAN: 9780307405388 Edition: 1 ISBN: 0307405389 Label: Crown Forum Manufacturer: Crown Forum Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 224 Publication Date: August 19, 2008 Publisher: Crown Forum Release Date: August 19, 2008 Studio: Crown Forum Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Product Description: With four simple truths as his framework, Charles Murray, the bestselling coauthor of The Bell Curve, sweeps away the hypocrisy, wishful thinking, and upside-down priorities that grip America’s educational establishment. Ability varies. Children differ in their ability to learn academic material. Doing our best for every child requires, above all else, that we embrace that simplest of truths. America’s educational system does its best to ignore it. Half of the children are below average. Many children cannot learn more than rudimentary reading and math. Real Education reviews what we know about the limits of what schools can do and the results of four decades of policies that require schools to divert huge resources to unattainable goals. Too many people are going to college. Almost everyone should get training beyond high school, but the number of students who want, need, or can profit from four years of residential education at the college level is a fraction of the number of young people who are struggling to get a degree. We have set up a standard known as the BA, stripped it of its traditional content, and made it an artificial job qualification. Then we stigmatize everyone who doesn’t get one. For most of America’s young people, today’s college system is a punishing anachronism. America’s future depends on how we educate the academically gifted. An elite already runs the country, whether we like it or not. Since everything we watch, hear, and read is produced by that elite, and since every business and government department is run by that elite, it is time to start thinking about the kind of education needed by the young people who will run the country. The task is not to give them more advanced technical training, but to give them an education that will make them into wiser adults; not to pamper them, but to hold their feet to the fire. The good news is that change is not only possible but already happening. Real Education describes the technological and economic trends that are creating options for parents who want the right education for their children, teachers who want to be free to teach again, and young people who want to find something they love doing and learn how to do it well. These are the people for whom Real Education was written. It is they, not the politicians or the educational establishment, who will bring American schools back to reality. Twenty-four years ago, Charles Murray’s Losing Ground changed the way the nation thought about welfare. Real Education is about to do the same thing for America’s schools. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - May seem radical in its approach, but its ideas are definitely worth consideringEducation for all is one of the few things that most agree on, but to what extent? "Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality" is a call to revamping how America educates its children. Going on four principles that are bold enough to say that not everyone is going to be capable of becoming a rocket scientist or the next president, it calls for an education which is on level with the people who need it the most, America's academically gifted. "Real Education" ... Read More Rating: - Thought provoking ideas about a fundamental topicMurray provides practical insights to the challenges of education, and does it in a very straightforward, easy to read manner. There is a bit of math that some may struggle with, but overall this is a quick and very interesting read. For me the most fascinating section was the one that seems the most obvious: half of children are below average in academic ability. Sounds really basic, right? But the author explores in some depth just what "average" means, and reminds each of us of ... Read More Rating: - Fascinating book!This is a fascinating book that I recommend to anyone! I am neither an educator nor a social scientist (nor, I might add, a social conservative) - just someone deeply concerned with the state of education in this country. The book is written clearly and in an engaging style, and the information it puts forth is common-sense and logical. Half of all people are below average in their academic ability. That's just statistics. Murray doesn't say that we should neglect the ... Read More Rating: - Charles Murray LightThis is another fantastic book by Murray though it is nothing like "The Bell Curve" or "Human Accomplishment" in the nature of statistical support. Rather, it reads like Murray light and focuses on some intriguing points. Should we do away with the false dichotomy of categorizing people as BA / non-BA when the BA does not mean what it used to? Kronman's book "Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life" is referred to as dealing best with the question of what ... Read More Rating: - Four simple points that show how we need to reform and free our educational systemWouldn't it be wonderful to have a system of education that actually prepared everyone for happy and productive lives? Instead, we try to stuff everyone into procrustean k-12 model and wonder why we have so many "failures". Worse, we tell every high school graduate to go to college and too many college graduates end up at jobs at benefit not a bit from their expensive post high school education and the student often has a big chunk of debt to pay back. Why are we doing this to ourselves and our children? ... Read More 
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