The Death of Public School by Cara Fitzpatrick

THE DEATH OF PUBLIC SCHOOL by Cara Fitzpatrick, a Pulitzer Prize winning education journalist and editor at Chalkbeat, is subtitled “How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America” and seems particularly timely as another school year begins and as education issues are becoming more of a focus in the ongoing culture wars. One quick example is the increased state involvement in the Houston school district and a decision to replace school libraries with supervised discipline centers, profiled earlier this month with an article in The New York Times and an interview from NPR with the new superintendent, plus concerned community members. Fitzpatrick’s new text has been praised for its careful research on history and coverage of complex topics like vouchers, charter schools, religious education, and the school choice movement in general. She looks at the period beginning in the 1950s and introduces lesser-known activists like Jesuit priest Virgil Blum, Wisconsin state legislator Polly Williams, and legal advocate, Clint Bolick. By necessity she touches on race, class, merit, content and curriculum, autonomy, trust, standardized testing, and funding, but tends to leave the reader looking for more analysis and possible solutions.

We certainly have work to do to improve schools and to find common goals. Phi Delta Kapan has been surveying attitudes towards public school for over 50 years; the PDK 2022 survey results are illuminating. Note, for example, how few parents (only 37%) would want their child to become a public school teacher in their community. Or, that the majority of public school parents (58%) would strongly support armed police in the school while less than half (44%) strongly support mental health screenings. Fitzpatrick does not look at the school years from 2020 onward, but THE DEATH OF PUBLIC SCHOOL merits attention and received a starred review from Booklist. Hopefully, studies like these will prompt more civil discussions about possible choices, post-COVID changes, and needed student support.