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Freedom Book of the Month for May, 2003:
The Worm in the Apple:Something certainly is rotten in American public education -- actually, lots of things contribute to the sorry state of education -- and Peter Brimelow shines a light where it's much needed, on the role of teachers unions. One might think that teachers, and by extension their union, would be highly invested in creating and maintaining work environments that enable them to perform well. Brimelow shows, in state after state as well as at the national level, that the reality is that unions are wealthy, powerful fiefdoms. They are bent on maintaining the status quo and the illusion of being "for the children" that they have carefully nurtured for their rank and file membership (not to mention the general public).
The Worm in the Apple offers a revealing look at the workings of the teachers unions, and how they got the remarkable power they wield. Brimelow does so with style, bringing a dry wit to the subject that enlivens his discourse. Approaching education issues from the perspective of an economist, Brimelow avoids becoming mired in minutiae of policy debates and instead focuses on a straightforward input-output analysis. With this ever in mind, it's clear that the teachers unions demand higher and higher input, while failing to produce an acceptable output.
Brimelow's philosophical approach is similarly straightforward and refreshing. In his view, the fundamental problem with the education system is its socialist basis, and only genuine reform -- free market capitalism in education -- will bring about meaningful improvements. This could involve vouchers (Brimelow points out the GI Bill was an adult-targeted education voucher program), charter schools, or any of a number of other ideas: Brimelow rightly declares that the form(s) doesn't matter as much as the substance.
Not content to deftly wield union execs' words against them, Brimelow offers twenty-four ideas on reforming teacher unions and education in general, organized along two themes: "disinfecting the apple" (getting rid of socialism in education); and "extracting the worm" (removing the teacher unions' legal privileges). Along with the usual suggestions, Brimelow makes the excellent point that the current education system does not fit all students' needs, and that reform -- he specifically mentions GED reform -- must address a wider spectrum of education.
The Worm in the Apple is a refreshing, hard-hitting examination of a longstanding problem in American education. If Brimelow's facts don't upset teachers and their union leaders, his occasionally over-the-top style will. Given the trends in education today, they ignore his message at their peril. Those who want to bring about free-market reforms in education will find The Worm in the Apple an invaluable aid, for its insights, ideas, and helpful ancillary material in the two appendices.
Order from Amazon.com, $17.47
More book information for May 2003
edited by Sunni Maravillosa
April 2003: Shattered Dreams by NCPPR staff
March 2003: The Rule of Lawyers by Walter K. Olson
February 2003: Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths, edited by Ronald Bailey
Freedom Book of the Year 2002: The Ballad of Carl Drega by Vin Suprynowicz
December 2002: Blood of the Roses, by Alex Gabbard
November 2002: The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science, by Ludwig von Mises
October 2002: The Haunted Air, by F. Paul Wilson
September 2002: Lead Astray and Out of Bounds, Out of Control by Peter Samuel and James V. DeLong respectively
August 2002: Boston's Gun Bible II by Boston T. Party
July 2002: Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan
June 2002: Net Assets by Carl Bussjaeger
May 2002: The Ballad of Carl Drega by Vin Suprynowicz
April 2002: Toward Liberty: The Idea that is Changing the World edited by David Boaz
March 2002: Liberty for Women edited by Wendy McElroy
February 2002: The State vs. the People by Aaron Zelman and Claire Wolfe
Freedom Book of the Year, 2001: Hope by Aaron Zelman and L. Neil Smith
January 2002: Death by Gun Control by Aaron Zelman and Richard W. Stevens
December 2001: The American Zone by L. Neil Smith
November 2001: Ayn Rand and Business by Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni
October 2001: Junk Science Judo by Steven J. Milloy
September 2001: Jonathan Gullible by Ken Schoolland
August 2001: Hope by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman
July 2001: Dissenting Electorate edited by Wendy McElroy and Carl Watner
June 2001: Tethered Citizens by Sheldon Richman
May 2001: Lever Action by L. Neil Smith
April 2001: The Cato Handbook for Congress from the Cato Institute
March 2001: The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand by David Kelley
February 2001: Crypto by Steven Levy
January 2001: Total Freedom by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Freedom Book of the Year 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
December 2000: The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto
November 2000: Escape from Leviathan by J.C. Lester
October 2000: The Art of Political War by David Horowitz
September 2000: An Enemy of the State by Justin Raimondo
August 2000: The Triumph of Liberty by Jim Powell
July 2000: A Generation Divided by Rebecca Klatch
June 2000: Law's Order by David Friedman
May 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
April 2000: Reciprocia by Richard G. Rieben
March 2000: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand
February 2000: Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey A. Schaler
January 2000: Revolutionary Language by David C. Calderwood
Special December 1999 Feature: The Freedom Book of the Year: Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 by Vin Suprynowicz
November 1999: Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell
October 1999: A Way To Be Free by Robert LeFevre, edited by Wendy McElroy
September 1999: Assassins (Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
August 1999: Don't Shoot the Bastards (Yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom by Claire Wolfe
July 1999: The Mitzvah by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman
June 1999: The Incredible Bread Machine by R.W. Grant
May 1999: Send in the Waco Killers by Vin Suprynowicz
April 1999: It Still Begins with Ayn Rand by Jerome Tuccille
March 1999: The Dictionary of Free-Market Economics by Fred Foldvary
February 1999: Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra
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