DECEMBER 2013 - AudioFile
In yet another book that purports to be able to solve the crisis of our failing public schools, politician Ron Paul focuses on home schooling and market forces, a euphemism for charter schools and competition within districts. Narrator Steve Coulter’s down-home earnestness works well; however, anyone looking for how to reform actual existing public schools may be disappointed. Coulter reads with an assured tone and an expressive voice, varying his approach to emphasize Paul’s points and succeeding in furthering his argument. However, Coulter has a propensity to overpronounce his “s” sounds, and there are times when he loses energy during passages that describe more than enlighten. R.I.G. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2013-09-15
Self-styled libertarian and former presidential candidate Paul (Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues that Affect Our Freedom, 2011, etc.) outlines an educational curriculum that he believes offers parents the ability to restore their authority by pulling their children out of schools and colleges. The author envisions a curriculum that will enable a student "to be a productive member of a society that is fundamentally not political" and, at the same time, "will inoculate the student against the Keynesianism of the typical university" and the "standard textbook accounts of [the] New Deal." Paul argues that the Internet provides the means to create this new system. He claims that teaching methods based on lectures delivered to hundreds of students "became obsolete sometime around 1450." Taking college-level courses online is the answer to that obsolescence. Paul also argues that the Internet allows parents to re-establish their authority over the lessons taught to children in the K-12 age group. He strongly believes that the Internet will lower the cost of education, and parents will be able to afford to do on their own what previously required the involvement of "big government" and the teachers' union. Paul offers different examples of available curricula, pointing out that top-flight universities like Harvard and Yale are making classes available online, and others are following suit. He similarly reviews sources for K-12 programs. In promoting his agenda, Paul recommends that parents choose curriculum units from programs that have been "designed by somebody who shares your worldview." The author promotes self-improvement skills and touts the success of Alcoholics Anonymous, "one of the best programs of self-improvement anywhere," as a model. A politician gleefully anticipates the destruction of traditional education in the name of saving children.
