Educating the "Right" Way : Markets, Standards, God, and Inequality

Rating:
Summary: A lot of facts, a sharp critique!
Review: In the last two decades we have been witnessing a wave of "reform" in education. The discourse behind these reforms is one that says that there is only one correct way of educating: the "Right" way. Michael Apple's book is extremely important because it maps out the efforts of the conservative modernization movement in converting their ideology in common sense and thus making their ideology the legitimate one, the one that makes sense. With a sophisticated theoretical framework and a plethora of concrete examples, Apple shows how the conservative reforms are in fact a struggle to constitute a particular view into official knowledge and to make other views of society not plausible. This is a book that will interest everyone who is involved in the field of education or social sciences.

Rating:
Summary: Too many complaints, very few alternatives
Review: Michael Apple continues his neo-marxist propaganda in this book going to great lengths complaining but offering almost or no alternatives to the so-called conservative agenda he is set to destroy.

The book is utterly imbalanced in his treatment of standards, educational reform and even the "Christian agenda". Ultimately the reader who does not buy into Apple's manifesto will feel cheated and might ask for a refund on a book full on prescriptive finger pointing but short on alternatives. It seems that Apple is trying to make a call for action among education policymakers. However, an essay in any liberal publication could have sufficed.

I found this book to be a short-lived firecracker. It left me wishing for more in order to decide how much Apple knows what he is talking about when he seems to persuade readers to destroy the conservative agenda. Perhaps Dr. Apple might use some of the royalties from this book to hire a research asssistant who can supply him with more data on which to base his groundless attacks.