The Reflection of Neoliberal Economic Policies on Education: Privatization of Education in Turkey

This study aimed to comparatively examine the views of teachers working in public and private secondary schools on the reasons for academic failure. Using qualitative research methods with a phenomenological design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 41 teachers (21 public, 20 private schools) working in the central district of Sivas province during the 2024-2025 academic year. Through the teachers' experiences, the reasons for academic failure, definitions of successful individuals, the impact of familial and environmental factors, the role of teaching methods, and expectations for preventing failure were analyzed. The findings show that public school teachers define successful individuals with internal characteristics such as discipline and patience, while private school teachers focus on work behaviors such as planning and self-confidence. Academic failure was expressed as "inability to reach the goal" in public schools and "performance problems" in private schools. While public school teachers emphasized individual and psychological factors in failure, private school teachers highlighted student attitudes, family factors, and the education system. It was stated that family support and a positive social environment increase success in both types of schools. In teaching methods, public schools emphasize student-centered approaches, while private schools emphasize active learning techniques. To prevent academic failure, dedication from teachers, cooperation from parents, responsibility from students, support from administrators, and systemic regulations from the Ministry of National Education are expected. The findings provide important clues for school-type-specific intervention strategies and inclusive education policies.

The idea of establishing High Schools in Turkey was discussed in a multilateral project at the beginning of 1963. The Ministry of National Education (MoNE), Ford Foundation, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara University, and International Development Agency (AID) participated in this project to establish these schools. In Ankara, High School project was a US funded and technically supported project, carried out jointly by the Florida State University, METU, and Ankara University. High Schools’ organizational goals were: (1) to improve students’ ability and increase their intelligence in science (2) to increase the number of qualified personnel in higher education and industry, and (3) to develop more laboratories by increasing students’ scientific knowledge in order to be the center of research and development. MoNE created the Science High School Project Advisory with six members from Ankara University and four members from METU to contribute to the scientific and curriculum aspects of the project. The Advisory Board selected 30 teachers from Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology disciplines by written and oral exams from the existing high schools of MoNE from all over the Turkey. Selected science teachers received special training for the development regarding the assessments of subjects and provided with opportunities to study on the curriculum at some universities in the United States (U.S.). To train teachers in Turkey, a modern building was constructed at METU campus and the education at Ankara High School started in 1964. After the success of the Ankara High School, the MoNE started the High School Projects in Istanbul and Izmir. Today, there are 238 High Schools serving as public schools and the same amount of schools serving as private schools. In the U. S., the training of 100K STEM teachers started in 2012. In this article, High Schools’ development and their innovation activities, the STEM projects and the vision for increasing the STEM education in Turkey and other developed countries were discussed.

Following an international trend, private tertiary institutions are mushrooming like never before in Latin America. Within the last 30 years, private higher education has grown to become very visible in many countries. Private schools in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, for instance, are pushing 70 percent of the total number of institutions. This type of enrollment is in some Latin American countries far outpacing public university enrollment. The natural question is: why? Is the success of private higher education based on its lower entrance requirements or because they offer something more adapted to students’ needs? It’s probably unfair to put all private universities under the same umbrella. Levy (1986) developed a very simple but useful classification for universities in Latin America that can help. There are “religious” affiliated schools (mostly Catholic) that were the first universities in the region. Then the “elite” institutions developed as countries became better organized (nowadays, they could be either private, religious, or public). And finally, there is the “demand-absorbing” schools that is a new growing group of tertiary institutions that has evolved aggressively during the last two decades. These new small universities are having a big share of the private market and are under scrutiny in the whole region (Silas 2009). But again, what is the main attraction to these small and new tertiary institutions? Moreover, why pay a private institution when students can attend almost-free public and more prestigious universities? Simply put, there is not enough room at public universities for the demand. Many students don’t qualify academically to enter public schools. According to some surveys done in Mexico (Oliver 2009), students are looking for ways to get a diploma, regardless of their quality, that would put them into the ____________________ *Corresponding author: Email: grego@um.edu.mx; Address: Facultad de Educacion, Universidad de Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. mainstream economy. This is a very complex issue that deserves more attention. Neoliberalism has become a way out for many governments to solve their lack of investment in public education. The growing demand for tertiary education is creating a huge pressure on the Latin American public higher education system. Governments have not been able to provide for the population’s training needs. The decline of governmental financial support for the sector is stimulating the expansion of private higher education and also attracting international investors. Public higher education seems to be experiencing a paradigm shift. Interestingly enough, the public system of universities used to be a way to equalize people and give them opportunities to be professionally productive in society. This general purpose is still there, but public higher education is shifting from social purposes to a more research-oriented approach where elite students and professors are key factors to success. As Holm-Nielsen, Thorn, Brunner, and Balan (2005) expressed it,

Araştırmanın amacı Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenlerinin bireyi tanıma teknikleri hakkında görüşlerini inceleyerek bu görüşlere yönelik öneriler geliştirmektir. Araştırma sürecinde bireyi tanıma teknikleri hakkında Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenlerinin bilgi sahibi olup olmadıkları araştırılmıştır. Bu bağlamda temel nitel araştırma tekniği kullanılarak yapılan çalışmanın katılımcıları kolay ulaşılabilir örneklem ile seçilmiştir. İstanbul ilinde bulunan ve MEB’ ait özel okul ve devlet okullarında görev yapan öğretmenlerden yüz yüze görüşme yöntemiyle veriler elde edilmiştir. Toplanan veriler nitel araştırma yöntemlerinde çoğunlukla kullanılan betimsel analiz tekniği ile değerlendirilmiştir. Değerlendirmede tümdengelim yaklaşımı benimsenmiştir. Değerlendirme aşamasında “Bireyi tanıma teknikleri Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenlerine göre ne anlam ifade etmektedir?” problem cümlesi bağlamında temalar belirlenmiştir. Çalışmanın araştırma grubu 2023-2024 eğitim ve öğretim döneminde İstanbul'daki MEB'e ait devlet okulu ve özel okullarda çalışmakta olan Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenleridir. Verilerin elde edilme sürecinde hem devlet okulunda çalışan 6 Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmeniyle hem de özel okulda çalışan 6 Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmeniyle yüz yüze görüşme yöntemi kullanılarak görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Öğretmenlerin tamamı bireyi tanıma tekniklerinin öğrenciyi tanıma da olumlu etkisi olduğunu ve gerekli olduğunu belirtmişlerdir. Öğretmenlerin bireyi tanıma teknikleri konusunda hizmet içi eğitim verilmesi, ders sürelerinin arttırılması, sınıf mevcutlarının azaltılması, Sosyal Bilgiler müfredatının bireyi tanıma tekniklerine göre düzenlenmesine yönelik istekleri olmuştur. Sosyal Bilgiler öğretmenlerinden elde edilen verilerin incelenmesi sonucunda öğrencilerin tanınmasının öğretmenler açısından gelecek planlamalarının yapılması, ilgi ve yeteneklerine uygun mesleklere yönlendirilmeleri ve başarılarının arttırılmasında olumlu etki oluşturduğuna ulaşılmıştır. Öğretmenlerden elde edilen veriler incelendiğinde öğrencileri tanıma sürecinde en fazla gözlem ve görüşme tekniklerinden faydalandıkları neticesine varılmıştır. Öğretmenlerin ders sürelerinin az olması, sınıf mevcutlarının fazla olması ve öğrencilerin iletişime kapalı olmaları yönünden çoğunlukla öğrencileri tanımada zorluk yaşadıkları saptanmıştır.

This study employs an overlapping-generations model featuring public and private education to analyze whether providing child allowances and free high school education influences economic growth. Earlier studies that analyze public and private education (Glomm and Ravikumar, 1992; Cardak, 2004) do not consider models in which fertility is endogenous and individuals can simultaneously choose both public and private education. Earlier studies that consider the effect of child allowances on fertility (Groezen, Leers, and Mejidam, 2003) disregard human capital accumulation. This study assumes people can choose both public and private education simultaneously in a model in which both fertility and human capital accumulation are endogenous. It introduces both child allowances and investment in public education financed by income taxes. It further considers how raising child allowances or investing in public education affects fertility, human capital accumulation, and economic growth. This study is motivated by evidence that the burden of meeting children’s educational expenses is one reason for Japan’s declining birthrate. It analyzes whether child allowances or free high school education can increase the birthrate and promote human capital formation. We find that such policies are unlikely to promote economic growth if they are financed by income taxes that cannot be increased indefinitely.

In-tro-duc-ti-onIn Turkey, there are approximately 20 000 children with diabetes, who are predominantly at school age. Most of these children encounter problems in their educational environment and it is possible to solve the problems by means of a comprehensive program. Diabetic children should not be kept away from physical education lessons and activities such as school trips. On the contrary, they should be motivated to participate in all activities with their schoolmates. If possible, in schools with diabetic children, a nurse or a counselor should be trained in identification and management of symptoms of diabetes emergencies and a place should be established for measuring blood glucose and for injecting insulin. Refreshments as well as toilet breaks should be allowed during the classes. Diabetes nutrition should be provided at boarding schools. Moreover, teachers should learn the symptoms of diabetes and be able to recognize these children earlier in order to avoid dangerous events at diagnosis. On the other hand, obesity frequency among the 6-16-year age group has increased from 5% to 10.5% (16.3% among the high-income level group) in the last 8 years in Turkey. At least 1/3 of these children have a greater risk of developing adulthood obesity and/or type 2 diabetes in the future. Childhood obesity results mostly from consuming high-calorie food known as “junk food” and sugar-sweetened beverages, in addition to eating fast and leading an inert lifestyle. Preventing obesity in adulthood depends mainly on the efforts in childhood and puberty. In recent years, much more attention is directed towards this issue, the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council has limited the advertisements for high-calorie food, and finally, the Ministry of National Education has restricted the sales of junk food and sodas at schools. Diabetes Program at School The Program is developed by means of a joint protocol initiated by the proposal of the Diabetes Working Group embodied in the Turkish Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Society in cooperation with the Ministry of National Education and Ministry of Health. The program, unconditionally supported by Sanofi-Aventis, has three main objectives:1. Raising awareness about type 1 diabetes via school and teachers. Ensuring an early diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and decreasing the frequency of diabetic ketoacidosis among school children.2. Strengthening the diabetes care in children at school age and solving the problems these children experience.3. Creating healthy attitudes toward nutrition among school children and raising awareness about obesity. Actions Taken Until Now An awareness poster under the title “Is my child a diabetes patient?” is now on the walls of 60 000 schools across Turkey. It has reached approximately 650 000 teachers and 16 million school children at primary and middle schools. Access to a brochure on diabetes in childhood, a guide on child’s diabetic care at school and a presentation on the training of teachers has been provided on related web pages and an official letter has been sent by the Ministry of National Education to the Provincial Directorates of National Education about the actions to be taken within the scope of the program. Pediatric Endocrinology Clinics across the country began to send a standardized letter to diabetic children and their teachers containing a program guide on child’s diabetes care at school.A short film was prepared for teachers, and the web address www.okuldadiyabet.org is now launched. Diabetes Program at School was initiated on November 12th, 2010 in Istanbul with the participation of a large group of teachers and this meeting attracted big attention from the press. On April 1st, 2011, a workshop was organized for the development of the program and planning of the steps in the coming period. Educational material about Diabetes Program at School may be reached through the websites www.meb.gov.tr, www.sdb.meb.gov.tr, www.saglik.gov.tr, www.beslenme.saglik.gov.tr, www.cocukendokrindiabetes.org.tr, www.arkadasimdiabetes.com Training in SchoolsA workshop on diabetes and obesity is going to be organized this year in the week of November 14th, World Diabetes Day, by the Ministry of National Education at 60 000 schools within the scope of Diabetes Program at School. On October 10th, 2011, a one-day training meeting was organized in Ankara for preparation for the training at schools across the country, with the participation of 300 staff comprised of 2 authorities from the Ministry of National Education, 1 from the Ministry of Health, and experts on diabetes and obesity among children. Diabetes and obesity issues were mainly explained in that meeting, the necessity to implement a circular in school canteens was emphasized, and the way of organizing school trainings in the week of November 14th was explained. In addition, training and awareness films prepared for children were introduced. School children (7 500 619 children) and teachers (583 182 teachers) joined the school trainings that are to be organized within the scope of Diabetes Program at School. Two films with a total duration of 24 minutes and explaining the issues related to diabetes and obesity among children were runned at all schools. A training platform is generated on the website www.okuldadiyabet.org for easy access to the educational material. At this platform, there are films, brochures and posters on diabetes and obesity aiming at continuation of training and raising awareness. The film about diabetes explains living with the disease with the words of a diabetic child and emphasizes the difficulties in school life and the expectations of diabetic individuals. Program effectiveness will be measured by means of information and awareness research studies before and after the trainings. Sukru Hatun, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Coordinator of Diabetes Program at School On behalf of the Childhood Diabetes Group at the Turkish Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Society

As global English expands, developing countries feel the pressure that, in order to remain globally competitive, they must increase the number of people with English proficiency. In response, many countries have significantly expanded English instruction in public schools by implementing primary English language teaching (PELT) programs. This is particularly true in countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America, where national Ministries of Education have taken a “more & earlier” approach, integrating English into the public primary curriculum. Children start learning English younger and study the language more during their basic education. The author argues that this language education policy shift toward expanding English in the public education curricula in developing countries is best understood as a shift from past models of elite English bilingualism to policies intended to support the macroacquisition, or general proficiency in English. The rationale for this policy change is framed in terms of the “modernization” and “internationalization” of a country’s public education system, and hence should be understood as part of the response to align education curricula and programs with neoliberal policies. The author examines Mexico’s recent national English program for public primary schools as a case study in the implementation of neoliberal language policy.

This paper studies the impact on public education spending of social democratic participation in government. By means of a pooled time-series analysis of spending in OECD democracies, it is shown that social democrats have increased public spending primarily on higher education. This finding is at odds with simple class-based models of partisan preferences (Boix) that predict a preference for non-tertiary education. As an alternative, the notion of a ‘new politics of public investment in education’ (Iversen) is presented. From this perspective, political parties are not merely transmission belts for the economic interests of social classes, but use policies and spending strategically to attract and consolidate voter groups. By increasing public investment in tertiary education, social democrats cater to their core electoral constituencies (for example, by expanding enrolment) and, at the same time, new middle-class constituencies to escape electoral dilemmas and reforge the cross-class alliance with the middle class.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the cooperation of human resources in different units in the fight against substance use in secondary schools, according to the opinions of our country’s different human resources, namely the narcotics director and staff of the General Directorate of Police, psychiatrists, guidance and counseling teachers, university faculty members, and individuals who use substances. In order to achieve this aim, the questions of the research are, according to the opinions of the stakeholders, how the Ministry of National Education thinks about increasing training on preventing substance use in the curriculum starting from pre-school education, and how teachers affiliated with the Ministry of National Education should focus on in-service training on substance use. Questions were asked to the participants on topics such as what their thoughts are, what their thoughts are about giving courses on substance addiction in a certain systematic way in teacher training programs of universities, what their thoughts are about the participation and employment of people who use substances in social life. Qualitative research methods were used in the study. Snowball sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used for the study group of the research. In this context, data was collected by interviewing a total of 50 participants, including the Narcotics Director of the General Directorate of Police and his staff, psychiatrists, guidance and counseling teachers, university lecturers, and individuals who use substances. In the formation of research questions, a pilot application was carried out and the research questions were given their final form. Miles and Huberman’s [1] formula was used for the validity and reliability of the research. After the data was collected, codes and themes were created by content analysis of the research data. According to the opinions of the stakeholders in the study, the Ministry of National Education should establish appropriate committees for course curricula in order to increase training on preventing substance use in the curriculum starting from pre-school education, and the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in order to update the curriculum and course contents. It is of great importance to establish a joint coordination board with the Ministry of National Education, in-service training on substance use should be planned for teachers of the Ministry of National Education, and it is necessary to establish committees on substance use in schools. It was concluded that support should be increased.

This research aims to comprehensively analyze the teacher recruitment process in private education institutions. The study utilizes a qualitative case study method, and data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with five administrators from boutique schools and five administrators from chain schools. The findings of the interviews revealed three main themes: "Methods for Teacher Hiring," "Desired Teacher Qualifications," and "Challenges." Interviews and course practices emerged as the primary methods for evaluating the personal and professional qualifications of potential teachers. Private school administrators emphasized the significance of personal, professional, and organizational qualifications in their recruitment processes. The research identified several difficulties faced during the teacher recruitment process, including teacher shortages, issues with loyalty, salary concerns, limited options, a lack of transparency, and teacher transfers. This information suggests that private school administrators may need to address these challenges to attract and retain qualified teachers effectively. To improve the recruitment of highly qualified teachers, it is recommended that private school administrators diversify their human resource management methods. Additionally, they should establish legal specifications for private school establishments, prioritizing educational goals over financial concerns. Collaboration between relevant institutions, such as the Council of Higher Education and the Ministry of National Education, is necessary for planning university teacher training quotas and open appointment processes, taking into account the needs of private schools.

In this chapter, concept of refugees, legal status of refugees, educational rights of refugees, concept of multicultural education are discussed. This section on refugees and immigrants in Turkey, multiculturalism, multicultural education concept aims to investigate basic human right of the refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers, right of education. Principles and recommendations should be produced on structuring and management of multicultural educational environments that would support right and struggle of existence of refugees, who would affect the future social, cultural, economic and political structure of Turkey, in this structure. As a result, in Turkish context, a “Commission for Educational Programs and Strategies for Refugee and Immigrants” that would include multidisciplinary experts and implementers and would be activated within National Education Ministry and organized also in periphery could produce and implement action plans and projects to provide educational rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in rational, academic, legal, political and humane manner.

In this chapter, concept of refugees, legal status of refugees, educational rights of refugees, concept of multicultural education are discussed. This section on refugees and immigrants in Turkey, multiculturalism, multicultural education concept aims to investigate basic human right of the refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers, right of education. Principles and recommendations should be produced on structuring and management of multicultural educational environments that would support right and struggle of existence of refugees, who would affect the future social, cultural, economic and political structure of Turkey, in this structure. As a result, in Turkish context, a “Commission for Educational Programs and Strategies for Refugee and Immigrants” that would include multidisciplinary experts and implementers and would be activated within National Education Ministry and organized also in periphery could produce and implement action plans and projects to provide educational rights of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in rational, academic, legal, political and humane manner.

In this study, educational programs that have been used from past to present were examined chronologically to better analyze the nature of the current Science program in primary schools in Turkey. In this research, in which the document analysis method was preferred among the qualitative research methods, official documents published by the Ministry of National Education and its affiliates were used as the data source. The obtained documents were analyzed by content analysis method. The Science course programs used in the past in the country were discussed from a multidimensional perspective. The distinctive features and orientations that have appeared in the programs over the years have been examined in line with the nature of time. As a result of the research, it is seen that the Science program in Turkey today focuses on the skills of individuals to solve daily life problems in their environment to adapt to the 21st century people in parallel with the developments in science education in the world.

Bu araştırmanın amacı, Türkiye’de 12 yıllık zorunlu eğitimin uygulandığı 2012-13 – 2019-20 Eğitim ve Öğretim Yılları arası eğitime dair temel istatistiklerin bütünsel olarak incelenmesidir. Bu amaç doğrultusunda, araştırma genel tarama modelinde tasarlanmıştır. Veriler, Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı (MEB) Strateji Geliştirme Başkanlığı ve Öğrenci Seçme ve Yerleştirme Merkezi tarafından yayınlanan resmi istatistiklerden derlenmiştir. Analiz sürecinde, MEB bütçesi, okullaşma oranları, okul, şube, öğretmen ve öğrenci sayıları ile yükseköğretime geçen öğrenci sayılarına ilişkin bilgiler derlenmiş ve çeşitli hesaplamalarla elde edilen bulgular tablolarla veya grafiklerle özetlenmiştir. Analizlerin sonucu ilk olarak, MEB Bütçesi’nin 2019-2020 Eğitim ve Öğretim Yılı’nda 2012-13 Eğitim ve Öğretim Yılı’na göre 2,64 kat artış gösterdiği belirlemiştir. Bulgular ayrıca, 2012-20 arasında yıllara göre toplam öğrenci sayısının (ilkokul, ortaokul ve ortaöğretim birlikte) birbirine yakın olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. MEB Bütçesi’nden öğrenci başına düşen harcama miktarı ise, 12 yıllık zorunlu eğitim döneminde 2.940 TL’den 7.550 TL ’ye çıkmış olsa da Amerikan doları karşılığı olarak 2012-13 yılında 1.614 dolara denk gelen öğrenci başına eğitim harcaması, 2019-20 yılında 1.026 dolara gerilemiştir. Diğer taraftan, 12 yıllık zorunlu eğitim periyodunda şube ve öğretmen başına düşen ortalama öğrenci sayıları 15-30 öğrenci arasındayken, okul başına düşen ortalama öğrenci sayısı ilkokul (192-213 öğrenci) ve ortaokul (296-328 öğrenci) düzeyine kıyasla ortaöğretim düzeyinde (432-628 öğrenci) oldukça fazladır. Bu sonuçlar bir arada değerlendirildiğinde, hem şube hem de okul başına düşen öğrenci sayılarının daha da aşağıya çekilerek Türkiye’deki okullarda öğrenme ortamının genişletilmesi ve zenginleştirilmesi adına yeni okulların açılması ve/veya mevcut okulların fiziki yapısının geliştirilmesi ve doğal olarak bu okullarda görevli eğitimci sayılarında artış sağlanması için eğitim bütçesinin artırılması önemli görünmektedir. Ayrıca, son sınıftayken yükseköğretim sınavına başvuranlardan, yükseköğretimde bir programa yerleşemeyenlerin sayısı sürekli artış göstererek, 2012-13 – 2019-20 Eğitim ve Öğretim Yılları arasında 404.994’ten 608.521’e çıkmış görünmektedir. Yükseköğretime geçiş için bekleyen ve giderek genişleyen bu kitlenin azaltılması için yetkililer tarafından meslek yüksekokulları bağımsız yükseköğretim kurumları haline getirilip bulundukları bölgenin öncelikli alanlarına yönelik programlar açılarak öğrenci kapasiteleri arttırılabilir.

The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools by David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995. 414 pp. $25.00, cloth. Reviewed by Faustine C. Jones-Wilson, Journal of Negro Education Editor-in-Chief Emerita. The title of this well-written, thoroughly documented book succinctly explains its intent. In it, the authors expose, debunk, and refute popular beliefs about education in the United States widespread since the publication of A Nation at Risk (1983). These include the following, that: (a) America's public schools are failing generally, (b) U.S. college student performance has declined recently, (c) American students typically fall behind their counterparts in advanced European and Asian countries with respect to achievement on standardized tests, (d) private schools are intrinsically better than public schools, (e) investments in public education are not worth the price, (f) America spends much more on education than other countries, and (g) the U.S. economy and the country's future are threatened by the failure of its public schools. Instead of falling into the customary defensive posture about public schooling in the U.S., however, Berliner and Biddle take the offensive in the ongoing debate. Berliner, an educational psychologist, and Biddle, a social psychologist, are prominent scholars and well-respected, experienced academicians. As this collaboration reveals, they are skilled at analyzing and interpreting data as well as at decoding high-sounding polemical pronouncements. They are also quite fair, as exemplified by the continuous advice they give to readers to assess their analyses as closely as they assess those of the contemporary educational critics who invented the crisis that is the focus of this investigation. The book begins by exposing the hidden agendas of prominent modern educational critics and ideologues, particularly those who employed by the federal government from 1983 to 1991. The authors then commence providing evidence that the attacks on public schools during that period by pro-voucher and/or privatization advocates, many of whom are friends of the ideologues noted above, are replete with myths and fraudulent assertions about the shortcomings of the majority of America's public schools. Indeed, the viewpoint that permeates this hard-hitting tome is one asserting that a pattern of organized malevolence has misled Americans about public schools and their accomplishments since 1983. These myths, Berliner and Biddle maintain, have been widely disseminated and vigorously touted by powerful people who were pursuing a political agenda designed to weaken the nation's public schools, redistribute support for those schools so that privileged students are favored over needy students, or even abolish those schools altogether (p. xii). The authors, on the other hand, conclude that the average public school is holding its own while educating an increasingly diverse constituency. Moreover, they contend that the American school system is in far better shape than the critics would have us believe. In the first three information-packed chapters, readers are apprised in detail about fraudulent statements related to the achievement and aptitude of America's students. They are also alerted to myths about the costs of education and about the relations between schools and industry, the latter of which frequently blames the nation's public schools for the problems and challenges faced by American corporations. Lastly, the authors describe the specific features of public schools that the critics view as offensive or as the root causes of widespread public dissatisfaction with public education. In this regard, Berliner and Biddle maintain that the critics choose to ignore both the public school success stories as well as the serious social dilemmas these schools are compelled to face. Their hard-hitting analysis demonstrates that most of the negative claims raised in opposition to public schools during the period under question are not supported by hard data. …