Cuban, Larry. (2003). Why Is It So Hard To Get Good Schools? N.Y., N.Y.: Teachers College Press.
Pp. vii + 97
$14.95 (Paper) ISBN 0-8077-4294-5
Reviewed by Neil Mercurius
Azusa Pacific University
July 21, 2003
Cuban’s Why Is It So Hard To Get Good Schools? is a collection of his lectures presented for the Julius and Rosa Sachs lecture series during 2001 and 2002. The Cuban lectures are grounded in the paradox of viewing teachers as both part of the problem and the solution in terms of creating “good” schools. Cuban documents the tension between two prevailing views of schools: although they are commonly viewed as responsible for the social ills of this nation, schools also serve as enablers of individual progress toward social and financial success.
Why Is It So Hard To Get Good Schools? Cuban seeks answers for the poignant question of his title from history, philosophy, religion, politics, and education to define a “good school” and to formulate a rational argument. Good schools, according to Cuban, suggest various notions “including Effective Schools, Core Knowledge Schools, Accelerated Schools, Coalition of Essential Schools, Success for All Schools, and dozens of other designs for a ‘good’ school” (p. 1).
He encourages educators to view reform from different “angles.” He brings more than 45 years’ experience as an educator and researcher to the discourse. He has published numerous books and journal articles that examine the full spectrum of school reform. This book is a compilation of three lectures. The first sought to answer the question “Why Have American Public Schools Become An Arm of the Economy?” (pp. 5–21). Cuban analyzed “business-led school reform” and the “business-inspired reform” of the last century (pp. 8, 14). Overall, he found that business-led reform coalitions were influential in changing goals, shaping school curriculum, shaping governance, and in structuring school management; but such coalitions had limited impact on reshaping classroom practices.
Over the centuries, the focus of schools has shifted from civic goals to goals of repairing social deficiencies to goals of individualism. In the preindustrial era, the civic goals of schools were to train students for the workforce and to ultimately produce a labor force that would “mirror” democratic equality. According to Cuban, giving “…American children equal access to schooling and literacy would build citizens who could serve on juries, govern communities, and make the right judgment as voters” (p. 18). During the industrial era, the goals of social efficiency forced civic duties to the background by “preparing students to take their place in an industrialized, socially stratified nation as both workers and well-adjusted citizens” (p. 19). Individual achievement subsequently moved to the forefront during the 20th century. The schools sought to transform advance lower- and middle-class families to a higher social class. Cuban documents that, by the end of the 20th century, business-inspired reform coalitions had eased the tension among the competing goals by aligning them. The result was a collective primary goal for public schools, preparing citizens “for college, the workplace, and personal success” (p. 19).
In the second lecture of this publication, Cuban shifted focus by asking, “Why Is It So Hard To Get More ‘Good’ Schools?” (pp. 23–38). He profiles four schools and challenges the audience to discover what made these model schools good. Although each educational facility presented a different approach to curriculum delivery, the larger community labeled them as good schools because there is no single “best way” to approach successful teaching. School A was depicted as a traditional or conservative, “quiet, orderly school where the teacher’s authority is openly honored by both students and parents” (p. 25). School B presented less structure in an environment--commonly referred to as a progressive or nontraditional school--where students and teachers address each other by first names. School C was a community-based facility where teachers, students, and parents worked collectively, and School D provided a progressive, democratic learning environment. Cuban concluded that all four schools could be described as good because they met the needs of their students. He further observed that policy makers, teachers, parents, and the general public all have their opinions and ideas about what qualities make for a good school, while typically ignoring the important facets of schooling. Consequently, the difficulty with achieving “good schools” does not lie in a shortage of ideas; “good schools are hard to get because of an evangelical, almost tyrannical, faith in establishing one version of what is a ‘good’ school” (p. 37).
Finally, Cuban asked, “How Do We Get More ‘Good’ Schools?” (pp. 39–52). First, he tested the phrase, “good for what?” and answered, “A ‘good’ school has been closely tied to federal and state court decisions” (p. 41). Such legislative decisions dramatically affected school funding, teacher salaries, books, and other issues fundamental to education. The most notable movement with significant impact on the current educational climate is standards-based reform. Cuban views this movement as influenced by the “Effective Schools tenet,” which shifts blame for academic failure from students to teachers. Second, the slogan “all children can learn,” formulated by the “test-driven” accountability movement, is clearly linked to the teacher paradox. Cuban claims that corporate leaders and public officials typically fail to consider such influences as ethnicity, race, and disability that limit all affected children’s performance on tests and chances of gaining acceptance to college. He further argues that it is impractical to force all students to be treated the same because each student presents unique needs.
The status of any educational facility is far less important than “whether they are discharging their primary duty to seriously and deliberately educate students to think and act democratically inside and outside the classroom” (p. 47). School administrators will find this book both informative and useful in addressing school reform. It is a “must read” for those interested in changing the status quo.
About the Reviewer
Neil Mercurius
Graduate School of Education and Behavioral Studies
Azusa Pacific University
Azusa, California 91702
Email: nmercurius@apu.edu
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