Milton Schwebel, Remaking America's School Systems: Now Separate and Unequal

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Sept, 2004 by Andrea Anderson

Milton Schwebel, Remaking America's School Systems: Now Separate and Unequal. Lanham. MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003. $39.95 hardcover, $29.95 papercover.

It is widely agreed upon that the public school system in the United States is not meeting the educational needs of its students. Urban schools in particular are known to have a hard time employing and retaining qualified teachers and often lack basic supplies and adequate facilities. Milton Schwebel agrees, but takes a different view than that of most proponents of educational reform. He denies the education system in the United States is has ever been in crisis or that it is currently in crisis. Instead, he describes the situation as an endemic, ongoing problem wherein a large portion of students receive an inferior education.

Schwebel claims that, contrary to popular belief, America's public schools are fulfilling their function. Impoverished schools are providing society with the workers it needs to fill the lowest paying jobs. Those in the upper class are content to let these students receive a below average education because it assures that they will not compete with their own children for high status, well paying positions. Those in power, those who create policy and those with money, have the educational system they want. Therefore, they are unwilling to pay for a decent and effective public educational system.

The author believes that until Americans feel a moral obligation to provide all students with an equal educational opportunities, nothing will change. Minor reforms will come and go, perhaps well-intentioned and strong in the beginning, but they will continue to become so watered down and poorly enforced by the time they are put into practice that no long lasting change will be perceptible. According to Schwebel, the United States has three school systems. The first is comprised of schools that everyone would want their children to attend. Supported by the community, filled with ample resources, and staffed by qualified, well-paid teachers, these are the schools that produce America's future leaders. The second gives its students basic skills and knowledge, and provides society with reliable workers. The third educational system serves the urban and rural poor. These are the schools with few resources, little parental involvement, permanent substitutes, low attendance and graduation rates, and students who oftentimes fail to learn even the most basic skills.

Schwebel's matter of fact tone and easy to understand writing style makes this book of interest to more than simply those in the field of education. He gives suggestions for improvements and solutions to the problems that plague our educational system. His measures aim to do away with the third school system and strengthen the second. Some are short-term, to be put in place by teachers and community members. However, most of his recommendations would take many years to accomplish and require the collaboration of policy makers, community leaders, parents, voters, and school districts.

Schwebel recognizes the vastness of the problem when he recommends such things as guaranteed full-time employment, national health insurance, parent-as-teacher training classes, free public preschool, after school programs in all elementary and middle schools, and a higher value placed on teachers, with corresponding pay. He ends the book with the acknowledgement that support for his proposals need political and broad-based support and that all sections of society would have to be committed to change. Although the challenge is great, he points out that several organizations that have already initiated this type of work. Despite the book's pessimistic thesis, the author remains hopeful that the situation can be changed.

Andrea Anderson, University of California, Berkeley