The plot against public education. [A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door by Jack Schneider; Jennifer Berkshire]

A trenchant analysis of how public education is being destroyed in overt and deceptive ways—and how to fight back

"There's no more time for tinkering around the edges." —Betsy DeVos, 2018 "Rethink School" tour

Betsy DeVos may be the most prominent face of the push to dismantle public education, but she is in fact part of a large movement that's been steadily gaining power and notching progress for decades—amassing funds, honing their messaging, and crafting policies. While support for public education today is stronger than ever, the movement to save our schools remains fragmented, variable, and voluntary. Meanwhile, those set on destroying this beloved institution are unified, patient, and well-resourced.

In A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider, co-hosts of the popular education podcast Have You Heard, lay out the increasingly potent network of conservative elected officials, advocacy groups, funders, and think tanks that have aligned behind a radical vision to unmake public education. They describe the dogma underpinning the work of the dismantlers and how it fits into the current political context, giving readers an up-close look at the policies—school vouchers, the war on teachers' unions, tax credit scholarships, virtual schools, and more—driving the movement's agenda. Finally they look forward, surveying the world the dismantlers threaten to build.

As teachers from coast to coast mobilize with renewed vigor, this smart, essential book sounds an alarm, one that should incite a public reckoning on behalf of the millions of families served by the American educational system—and many more who stand to suffer from its unmaking.

After the attempted coup at Capitol Hill, Betsy DeVos has finally tendered her resignation. Since her appointment as U.S. Secretary of Education it's been regular updates on the horribleness and weakening she's wrung up and into the American education system. Weakening protections for assault survivors, minority groups, and generally promoting an inequality for all but the wealthiest and whitest of citizens, DeVos has stood in her villainy and we've all hated her for it. But Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire's A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door sheds new light on policies and the general movement DeVos and other likeminded individuals aim to bring to full-blown fruition.

I come from the New York City school of education. Teacher strikes are expected, understood, and justified. Often hoped for, especially when you're a student and wouldn't mind a day off. It seems glaringly obvious that a nation that spends as much as we do on the military would invest and be eager to invest in education, but that has never been the reality. Students always seemed to understand that, of course, teachers should be paid more, that the teaching profession is severely undervalued and that that shouldn't be the case. And yet, decades later teachers still have to scream the obvious. The beloved propagandistic image of innovative Americans making technological leaps and bounds, from the Space Race era and beyond, is contingent on a solid math and science education. I guess the humanities have never really figured into that, so I should be surprised, but growing up as an elementary school student I believed my educational foundation was being laid in that ideal. Yes, there are issues in the current system that need to be addressed. Equitable education for all, a lofty goal, should continue to be the aim. I believe in education reform, but not an upending. Why people don't equate an educated populace to the strength of nation is beyond me. Except it's not, because capitalism.

I wish I could say I'm walking away from this read explain the concepts I read about, but that's not me. Instead, I'd just point them to the book and go on about how excellent it was at laying everything out. With for-profit schemes laid out, with plans to undereducate poor, disabled, and non-White populations mapped out, I can't help but feel that USA Corp. Inc is the endgame. A (further) disenfranchised working class with minimal collective power ruled by an amoral elite is the horrific future I'm seeing if massive efforts to protect public education aren't made. All in all, having read this book I feel horrified but so much more aware of the plot against public education. Damned capitalism. 5 stars from me.  

A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door (ISBN:9781620974940) was published November 2020.