Teachers

Everybody has an opinion about American education: what's right, what's wrong, what we should do about it. But how about the people most directly involved - the elementary, junior high, and high school teachers who face our children five days a week? What do hey think about the state of American education today? Teachers provides the answers. In the documentary tradition of Studs Terkel and Mark Baker, journalists Catherine Collins and Douglas Frantz present the experiences and opinions of more than 150 representative teachers from across the nation. In their own words, these frontline educators talk frankly about the problems they encounter every day and discuss their own classroom-tested solutions. With unprecedented candor, they reveal their hopes for - and their fears about - America's schools and America's children. From the poorest inner-city public schools to the most privileged private academies, Teachers tells us firsthand what it's really like inside our children's classrooms. About how the system works for some students and leaves others behind. About how teachers' roles have changed. About the lack of discipline and increasing violence. About why some teachers stay idealistic while others burn out. Here are the telling anecdotes, the uncensored reflections, and the thoughts about reform that we don't hear at PTA meetings. Each teacher in the book has a distinct voice and a unique story to tell. Yet despite their differences, all of them agree that our schools must be improved. And most of them agree on how they can be improved. Students need smaller classes and safer classrooms. Teachers need better pay so that more of our nation's top college graduates will pursue careers in education. Parents need to realize that schools cannot instill knowledge, values, and self-discipline without help from home. And if teachers and administrators truly want to reverse the decline in academic performance, they must insist on higher standards. Everyone believes that improving American education should be high on our list of national priorities. Over the last decade, scores of politicians, journalists, bureaucrats, academics, and other experts have presented plans for reform. But until now we haven't heard directly from the people who matter most: teachers. It's time we listened. The stories are riveting - the future is at stake.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.