The Manufactured Crisis Essay

Words: 1509
Pages: 7

The Manufactured Crisis written by David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle is a book disproving the horrible reputation America’s education system has been given by the media and by the government. Americans have almost been programmed to believe that the public school systems are failing and that in order to make their children successful they have to be sent to private schools. The Manufactured Crisis is a well written book jammed packed full of research and observation that overwhelming disproves the myths and bashing of public school systems.
In chapter one Biddle and Berliner grab you attention right away this throwing a number of news headings at you. Most of these headings read something like, “Fourteen-year-old student,

They come back though and say that yes we have not been seeing many improvements for the amount of we put into the education program, but to say that we fail in comparison to other industrialized countries is “Balderdash” (63).
Another strong argument that Berliner and Biddle made that really grabbed my attention was where the increased costs for education were coming from. Before I read this I always believed that the increases in taxes and fees were to pay for paper pencils and teachers salaries. Where in fact majority is going to mentally challenged students whose programs cost upwards in the eight thousand dollars as lf 1989, and has most likely increased over time. Also the amount of financially challenged students has risen causing the state to have to pay for more meal plans and off-set the decreased fees that they pay. This in turn lessens the amount of state aid that schools can receive because they are paying too much money for challenged students. I am not saying that this is a bad thing; all I am saying is that there should be something done to make that sate be able to finance the school and its staff more efficiently and its challenged students at the same time. Now that I have a better understanding of where the money is going I feel better about paying such high fees and taxes; however, I am not