ANHOW Book Revw: "The Worm in the Apple: How the Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education" -- Adilbrand Noblesword's Hall of Warriors

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Date Posted: 16:21:31 08/02/03 Sat
Author: Mt. Healthy Mountaineer, your intrepid reviewer
Subject:

ANHOW Book Revw: "The Worm in the Apple: How the Teacher Unions Are Destroying American Education"

Author: Peter Brimelow
Genre: Non-fiction
Published: 2003 by HarperCollins Publishers

This is a well-written, well documented attack on the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Locally, in Indiana, the AFT is not so common but the NEA is better known by its Indiana affiliate the Indiana State Teacher's Association (ISTA), which has a rather large office building directly across the street from the Indiana State Capitol building.

The premise is, as the title clearly states, that since the rise of teacher unions in the mid-1960s, the quality of education has dropped, innovation has been compromised and the cost of education has skyrocketed. He backs it up with a ton of statistics. To the credit of Brimelow, this could have been a stale listing of statistics punctuated by charts. However, he writes in a lively style and backs up his assertions with independent sources of information as well as damning quotes from movers and shakers in the NEA and the AFT.

This is a thought-provoking and challenging book. He does not just stand there and point out problems. He also 24 suggestions at the end of his book, although he is quick to note that this is a wish list and it will be extremely unlikely that half of these could ever see the light of day.

I give this book an "A"

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Replies:

Some meandering (the kind I do best) comments as a member of a teacher union -- Mt. Healthy Mountaineer, member of the NEA and the ISTA, 17:13:00 08/02/03 Sat
- A serious question -- mvd, 09:49:25 08/05/03 Tue
  - Re: A serious question -- Mt. Healthy Mountaineer, 08:12:12 08/06/03 Wed
    - Re: A serious question -- mvd, 10:04:25 08/06/03 Wed
      - Thank you -- Mt. Healthy Mountaineer, 22:04:18 08/07/03 Thu