Myron Lieberman – författare

In this blistering critique of our failing public schools and our fuzzy thinking about how to fix them, Myron Lieberman explains why public education is in irreversible and terminal decline and tells us what we must do to get American schooling back on track. No other book on educational policy or reform covers such a broad range of issues or draws upon such extensive empirical data across such diverse academic disciplines. This is a refreshingly clear analysis of our educational crisis and a rallying cry for market-system approaches to school reform. Nobody emerges unscathed—Lieberman’s analysis challenges the advocates of choice as well as the defenders of the public schools.

The Educational Morass is about the ineffectiveness of public education in the United States today and why it is unlikely to achieve significant improvement in the absence of heavy external pressure. The reason for these conclusions and what can be done about it are the core of this book. It is an explanation of why the most popular educational reforms are either misguided or practically impossible to achieve. The book also explains why several reforms which would bring about significant improvement are not under consideration. Although a conservative himself, Lieberman asserts that conservative illusions about public education and about unions and employment issues generally also play a major role in the failure to bring about significant reform.Public education is a highly decentralized public service, buffeted by national, state, and local interests and reported by media that are not up to the task of describing the situation realistically. Despite these negative aspects, Myron Lieberman contends that major reforms are possible, but require different leaders, strategies, and tactics.