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Review date:
08/01/2007
Education Reform Faces a Formidable Alliance of Resistance
(The Alliance Against Education Reform: How Board Members, Administrators, Professors, State Bureaucrats, Federal Officials, Politicians, and Teacher Unions have United Against Real Education Reform. Richard G. Neal, AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN, 2006. 236 pages, paperback, ISBN: 978-1-4259-7217-2-sc)
Richard G. Neal discusses the negative consequences of teacher unions for students in his book, The Alliance Against Education Reform. Focusing on the negative impact of teacher unions and collective bargaining on the progress of education reform, Neal presents a methodical argument against unions and collective bargaining in the education system. Citing politics, broad negotiations, strikes, intimidation, and hardball negotiations, Neal extensively analyzes possible factors impeding progress in American schools.
“Our public schools have come a long way from the days of small schools and small school districts where parents had a significant voice to the hostile bureaucracies of large schools and huge school districts today where parents are considered to be the enemy,” Neal says.
There is hope, though. The Alliance Against Education Reform also presents a study of the measures being taken to act against these negative forces. Teacher unions can be overcome, Neal says, and some groups are already beginning the process of pushing them out. Neal discusses a coalition that promotes government schools.
This book is a call to action for the parents that have yet to join the fight. “The growing dissatisfaction of millions of parents with the monopoly of public schools is creating a demand for education choices other than those found in government schools,” Neal says. “Millions of taxpayers are becoming convinced that the non-competitive public schools waste vast sums of public funds. But these parents and taxpayers are confused as to why the public schools never seem to improve. The Alliance Against Education Reform has been written for these people. It exposes in detail all of the self-interested forces that resist significant change in our public schools and what can be done to break their stranglehold.”
Neal was inspired to write this book by his knowledge in the field of education. He has taught at all levels – elementary, secondary, adult, community college, and graduate school. He held positions as assistant principal, principal, supervisor, director, and associate superintendent. He has also served as executive director of a larger teachers’ association. Neal made a career change in mid-career and left the public school system to serve as associate director of an educational consulting firm. He earned his own education from the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and Ohio State University. He served in the U.S. Navy (active) and Air Force Reserves. He is the author of many other books and articles.
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