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Inside American Education
An indictment of the American educational system criticizes the fact that the system has discarded the traditional goals of transmitting knowledge and fostering cognitive skills in favor of building self-esteem and promoting social harmony.
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 2, 1992
348 people are currently reading
3129 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Sowell
88 books5,555 followersThomas Sowell is an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he became a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative. He was a recipient of the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in 2002.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
January 10, 2010
Devastating examination of the American educational system. Teacher's unions (and some individual party-line teachers) hate this book, and politicians ignore it, but everyone who cares about future generations should give this book a read. This book was one of the nails in the coffin of our kid's public school education. We now home-school.
May 25, 2024
comprehensive and disturbing
May 28, 2024
Quite a bit of vulgarity in our schools and universities. But information that more people need to be aware of. A professor showing random porn pictures is a pervert and shouldn't be a professor. He also should be charged with abuse for telling a female student to write about her sexual life.
We know that a lot of this nonsense came to light during 2020, but this book was published in 1993!
Thomas Sowell did a great job and this information needs to be more known and dealt with.
I recommend this book. So much is covered and it's really well written and organized.
Johnny still can't read, but worse now, he can't think either.
We know that a lot of this nonsense came to light during 2020, but this book was published in 1993!
Thomas Sowell did a great job and this information needs to be more known and dealt with.
I recommend this book. So much is covered and it's really well written and organized.
Johnny still can't read, but worse now, he can't think either.
November 27, 2010
Another solid effort by T Money Sowell. This is a fascinating glimpse inside the problems of education in public schools as well as public and private universities. Tread carefully; the inside is a nauseating place.
A disturbing trend in today’s society is that analysts and the general public will look at something that is not a free market, assume it is a free market, and then blame free market principles for the shortcomings of the system. Sowell shows how many of the institutional problems that are ruining education in America are doing so because they create a market that is not free. There is collusion, price discrimination, insulation from accountability, unionization and subsidization. This is not a free market so of course there is mediocrity.
One thing that’s not so great about Sowell’s writing is the structure and outline of the chapters. For example, he’ll list three main reasons for something: tenure, research, and faculty self-governance. Then he’ll give subheadings to the first two topics but tuck the third one under the second, rather than make it a third subhead. So as you’re reading along you expect to hit that third subhead that let’s you know he’s changed topics and realize instead that the chapter is over. You realize that he’s been touching on the third topic, but you’re expecting more. Then you have to go back and review that third topic because nothing more is coming and that’s all you get – a few paragraphs.
Also, he refers to himself in the third person in his own book, saying, “Among the early warnings was one in an article…by a black professor named Thomas Sowell.” Kinda lame, Tom.
My only other complaint is that Sowell thinks hockey has halves: “At the end of half-time in a hockey game…” Where is his editor on this one? Are they both such nerds that they’ve never watched hockey? Come on.
Here are a few of my favorite points:
Minority students don’t want affirmative action:
“A survey of 5,000 students at 40 colleges showed that, at predominantly white colleges, 76 percent of black students and 93 percent of white students agreed that all undergraduates should be admitted by meeting the same standards. At predominantly black colleges, more than 95 percent of the students of both races agreed.”
Universities lack quality control:
“There is probably nothing else purchased which has such a large impact on family finances, or on the future of the next generation, which has such lax quality control.”
Universities spend too much money on non-academic endeavors:
“In an academic context, the phrase ‘costs have risen’ often has exactly the same meaning as the phrase, ‘we have chosen to spend more money.’”
Georgetown is awesome; Memphis State sucks:
“Credit is due to some institutions like Georgetown University, where 90 percent of the basketball team graduated, but such institutions are more than counterbalanced by places like Memphis State, where no basketball player graduated for an entire decade.”
Liberals are condescending toward minorities:
“Despite paternalistic concerns expressed that disadvantaged minority children might be left behind in various parental choice schemes, due to the apathy of their parents, polls have repeatedly shown that support for parental choice has been higher among blacks than among whites.”
Scholarships are bogus:
“Scholarships are no longer a reward for being a scholar. They are part of a larger scheme of price discrimination and subsidization of colleges.”
Even college presidents admit this is not a free market. Wouldn’t this be nice?!:
“If colleges were required to assess students’ need independently, we might be dragged into a ‘bidding war’ for the best students – making conservative estimates of the amounts their families could contribute and then beefing up their aid packages.” William R. Cotter, President of Colby College
Money has nothing to do with school performance:
“One of the few rises in test scores occurred after one of the few declines in the real income of teachers.”
Tenure sucks:
“Given the degree of insulation from accountability, the degree of self-indulgence found among academics can hardly be surprising.”
A disturbing trend in today’s society is that analysts and the general public will look at something that is not a free market, assume it is a free market, and then blame free market principles for the shortcomings of the system. Sowell shows how many of the institutional problems that are ruining education in America are doing so because they create a market that is not free. There is collusion, price discrimination, insulation from accountability, unionization and subsidization. This is not a free market so of course there is mediocrity.
One thing that’s not so great about Sowell’s writing is the structure and outline of the chapters. For example, he’ll list three main reasons for something: tenure, research, and faculty self-governance. Then he’ll give subheadings to the first two topics but tuck the third one under the second, rather than make it a third subhead. So as you’re reading along you expect to hit that third subhead that let’s you know he’s changed topics and realize instead that the chapter is over. You realize that he’s been touching on the third topic, but you’re expecting more. Then you have to go back and review that third topic because nothing more is coming and that’s all you get – a few paragraphs.
Also, he refers to himself in the third person in his own book, saying, “Among the early warnings was one in an article…by a black professor named Thomas Sowell.” Kinda lame, Tom.
My only other complaint is that Sowell thinks hockey has halves: “At the end of half-time in a hockey game…” Where is his editor on this one? Are they both such nerds that they’ve never watched hockey? Come on.
Here are a few of my favorite points:
Minority students don’t want affirmative action:
“A survey of 5,000 students at 40 colleges showed that, at predominantly white colleges, 76 percent of black students and 93 percent of white students agreed that all undergraduates should be admitted by meeting the same standards. At predominantly black colleges, more than 95 percent of the students of both races agreed.”
Universities lack quality control:
“There is probably nothing else purchased which has such a large impact on family finances, or on the future of the next generation, which has such lax quality control.”
Universities spend too much money on non-academic endeavors:
“In an academic context, the phrase ‘costs have risen’ often has exactly the same meaning as the phrase, ‘we have chosen to spend more money.’”
Georgetown is awesome; Memphis State sucks:
“Credit is due to some institutions like Georgetown University, where 90 percent of the basketball team graduated, but such institutions are more than counterbalanced by places like Memphis State, where no basketball player graduated for an entire decade.”
Liberals are condescending toward minorities:
“Despite paternalistic concerns expressed that disadvantaged minority children might be left behind in various parental choice schemes, due to the apathy of their parents, polls have repeatedly shown that support for parental choice has been higher among blacks than among whites.”
Scholarships are bogus:
“Scholarships are no longer a reward for being a scholar. They are part of a larger scheme of price discrimination and subsidization of colleges.”
Even college presidents admit this is not a free market. Wouldn’t this be nice?!:
“If colleges were required to assess students’ need independently, we might be dragged into a ‘bidding war’ for the best students – making conservative estimates of the amounts their families could contribute and then beefing up their aid packages.” William R. Cotter, President of Colby College
Money has nothing to do with school performance:
“One of the few rises in test scores occurred after one of the few declines in the real income of teachers.”
Tenure sucks:
“Given the degree of insulation from accountability, the degree of self-indulgence found among academics can hardly be surprising.”
November 21, 2008
Another example of the problem with liberalism. A government monopoly run by a union of government employees with no incentives to innovate or succeed results in failure. American education has declined since the 1960s when Libs hijacked it. Money is not the problem for at least three reasons. First, the money spent does not actually improve student learning. Second, real spending (meaning inflation-adjusted dollars) has increased somewhere between 3 and 8 times what it was 50 years ago with no tangible benefits. Third, other countries that perform much better on international tests spend less per pupil than the U.S. America must introduce competition into the educational system to lower costs and get a better product: educated children. School vouchers are the answer.
May 31, 2022
“It is not merely that Johnny can’t read, or even that Johnny can’t think. Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is, because thinking is so often confused with feeling in many public schools.”
Thomas Sowell wrote this almost 30 years ago, but sadly all of the problems with public education that he outlined 30 years ago are still alive and even worse today!
Thomas Sowell wrote this almost 30 years ago, but sadly all of the problems with public education that he outlined 30 years ago are still alive and even worse today!
July 12, 2022
In “Inside American Education,” Thomas Sowell gave detailed explanations as to why and how the educational system has been deteriorating in the U.S.A., and what can be done about it. Because the concerns many of us hold about the topic are so relevant today, I assumed that this was a recent publication. I was surprised to find out that it was published 30 years ago in 1992. The author wrote the book based on data accumulated in the 1970s and 1980s. In other words, the issues have been around for nearly half a century, at least. This is an important read for anyone who has children in the American educational system.
September 24, 2024
Can also be applied to modern-day New Zealand Education.
April 5, 2010
This is one of the better American education doomsday books I have read. Sowell covers an extraordinary amount of ground, in reasonable detail, in less than 400 pages. He can do so because, unlike most books of this kind, Inside American Education is well organized and succinct. Sowell address elementary, secondary, and college education, with an emphasis on the latter. He is well suited to write about problems with higher education, being an economist, sociologist, and philosopher with extensive experience as a teacher at a variety of schools including Howard, Brandeis, Cornell, and UCLA. As an African-American who achieved educational success prior to affirmative action, he is also in a unique position to observe the effects of educational policies on minorities.
As with all books of its kind, Inside American Education suffers from the flaw of exaggeration, but Sowell generally offers more statistical and logical support for his arguments than most such writers. Additionally, he addresses the objections to his arguments (i.e. the “excuses for failure”) one by one, which is something a great many political and sociological writers decline to do. (Indeed, he even addressed one of my own long-standing objections to the relevance of comparisons of American and international test scores.) The book is over fifteen years old, yet I did not find it overly out-of-date. That is because, unfortunately, most of the problems he laments still exist in the American education system.
In elementary and secondary education, Sowell covers such topics as unnecessary barriers to entry in the teaching profession ( “the monopoly of schools and departments of education as gatekeepers of the teaching profession”); the lack of academic qualifications among many teachers and education departments (i.e. on average, education majors have lower verbal and math SAT and GRE scores than virtually any other major and almost half of the bottom 40% of high school graduates go on to become teachers, while very few of the top 20% do, and, of the top ones who do, 85% drop out of the profession in a few years); the use of the classrooms for indoctrination (“Much of the politicizing of education during the current era happens to have been done by the political left, and much of the exposure and criticism of it has therefore come from conservatives, but it would be a very serious mistake to think that the issue is basically political…The educational consequences of ideological indoctrination efforts are likely to be far more serious than the political consequences,” that is, less time spent on real academics and a destruction of the capacity for critical thinking); multiculturalism, bilingual education, “relevance,” “sensitivity,” and “diversity” (“the call for cultural diversity is a call for ideological conformity”); the trend towards teaching “the whole person” (“The reason for teaching mathematics, instead of teaching ‘the whole person,’ is that one may have had some serious training in mathematics, and so at least have the possibility of being competent at it…Other countries whose educational systems achieve more than ours often do so in part by attempting less.”); the promotion of “self-esteem” (“The very idea that self-esteem is something EARNED, rather than being a pre-packaged handout from the school system, seems not to occur to many educators”).
In the realm of higher education, Sowell discusses the inadequacy of college rankings (“Top colleges turn out extraordinary graduates because they take in extraordinary freshmen. That tells very little about what happened in the intervening four years, except that it did not ruin these individuals completely…the real problem is to match individuals with institutions, not to rank institutions.”); the reasons for the rising costs of tuition; preferential admissions and “affirmative grading” (“The issue is not whether minority students are ‘qualified’ to be in college, law schools, etc., but whether they are systematically MISMATCHED with the particular institutions they are attending…The larger issues is the impact of such double standards—both academically and socially…As for the minority students themselves, many—and probably most—of their academic failures throughout the various levels of colleges can be traced to the systematic mismatching resulting from preferential admissions policies.”); double standards for behavior based on race, gender, and sexual orientation (which, along with preferential admissions, Sowell sees as the primary cause of the rise of the “new racism” on college campuses); ideological double standards (“Students, for example, may go unpunished for major violations of campus rules, including disruptions and violence, if these actions were undertaken to forward some ideological agenda currently in favor among academics. But mere infringements, or even inadvertent actions construed as infringements, may be very severely punished…when those accused are ideologically out of step.”) ; students’ lack of access to professor and courses; and the extent of athletic support.
Sowell is long on diagnosis but short on cure. The diagnosis is bankruptcy: “Johnny can’t think.” However, Sowell cautions that this is “not a blanket condemnation of every aspect of American education. Even an enterprise in bankruptcy often has valuable assets. Both the assets and the liabilities of our educational system need to be assessed, to see what can be salvaged from the debacle and reorganized into a viable enterprise.” He proposes no specific solutions, but offers four vague steps to reorganization: (1) “destroying the monopoly of credentialing held by schools and academic departments of education” (2) abolishing tenure (3) allowing “some form of parental choice among schools”, and (4) implementing effective monitoring of schools and teachers through “some independent source of information.” It’s been over fifteen years since this book was written, and none of these reforms have been made with any consistency. This is not surprising, given the educational industry cartel Sowell describes.
Far more interesting than Inside American Education is Thomas Sowell’s autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, which recounts his fascinating personal experiences inside American education.
As with all books of its kind, Inside American Education suffers from the flaw of exaggeration, but Sowell generally offers more statistical and logical support for his arguments than most such writers. Additionally, he addresses the objections to his arguments (i.e. the “excuses for failure”) one by one, which is something a great many political and sociological writers decline to do. (Indeed, he even addressed one of my own long-standing objections to the relevance of comparisons of American and international test scores.) The book is over fifteen years old, yet I did not find it overly out-of-date. That is because, unfortunately, most of the problems he laments still exist in the American education system.
In elementary and secondary education, Sowell covers such topics as unnecessary barriers to entry in the teaching profession ( “the monopoly of schools and departments of education as gatekeepers of the teaching profession”); the lack of academic qualifications among many teachers and education departments (i.e. on average, education majors have lower verbal and math SAT and GRE scores than virtually any other major and almost half of the bottom 40% of high school graduates go on to become teachers, while very few of the top 20% do, and, of the top ones who do, 85% drop out of the profession in a few years); the use of the classrooms for indoctrination (“Much of the politicizing of education during the current era happens to have been done by the political left, and much of the exposure and criticism of it has therefore come from conservatives, but it would be a very serious mistake to think that the issue is basically political…The educational consequences of ideological indoctrination efforts are likely to be far more serious than the political consequences,” that is, less time spent on real academics and a destruction of the capacity for critical thinking); multiculturalism, bilingual education, “relevance,” “sensitivity,” and “diversity” (“the call for cultural diversity is a call for ideological conformity”); the trend towards teaching “the whole person” (“The reason for teaching mathematics, instead of teaching ‘the whole person,’ is that one may have had some serious training in mathematics, and so at least have the possibility of being competent at it…Other countries whose educational systems achieve more than ours often do so in part by attempting less.”); the promotion of “self-esteem” (“The very idea that self-esteem is something EARNED, rather than being a pre-packaged handout from the school system, seems not to occur to many educators”).
In the realm of higher education, Sowell discusses the inadequacy of college rankings (“Top colleges turn out extraordinary graduates because they take in extraordinary freshmen. That tells very little about what happened in the intervening four years, except that it did not ruin these individuals completely…the real problem is to match individuals with institutions, not to rank institutions.”); the reasons for the rising costs of tuition; preferential admissions and “affirmative grading” (“The issue is not whether minority students are ‘qualified’ to be in college, law schools, etc., but whether they are systematically MISMATCHED with the particular institutions they are attending…The larger issues is the impact of such double standards—both academically and socially…As for the minority students themselves, many—and probably most—of their academic failures throughout the various levels of colleges can be traced to the systematic mismatching resulting from preferential admissions policies.”); double standards for behavior based on race, gender, and sexual orientation (which, along with preferential admissions, Sowell sees as the primary cause of the rise of the “new racism” on college campuses); ideological double standards (“Students, for example, may go unpunished for major violations of campus rules, including disruptions and violence, if these actions were undertaken to forward some ideological agenda currently in favor among academics. But mere infringements, or even inadvertent actions construed as infringements, may be very severely punished…when those accused are ideologically out of step.”) ; students’ lack of access to professor and courses; and the extent of athletic support.
Sowell is long on diagnosis but short on cure. The diagnosis is bankruptcy: “Johnny can’t think.” However, Sowell cautions that this is “not a blanket condemnation of every aspect of American education. Even an enterprise in bankruptcy often has valuable assets. Both the assets and the liabilities of our educational system need to be assessed, to see what can be salvaged from the debacle and reorganized into a viable enterprise.” He proposes no specific solutions, but offers four vague steps to reorganization: (1) “destroying the monopoly of credentialing held by schools and academic departments of education” (2) abolishing tenure (3) allowing “some form of parental choice among schools”, and (4) implementing effective monitoring of schools and teachers through “some independent source of information.” It’s been over fifteen years since this book was written, and none of these reforms have been made with any consistency. This is not surprising, given the educational industry cartel Sowell describes.
Far more interesting than Inside American Education is Thomas Sowell’s autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, which recounts his fascinating personal experiences inside American education.
September 6, 2025
An incisive and truly impressive work. I found myself checking the publication date more than once, amazed that Sowell was already engaging these prescient issues back in 1993.
January 16, 2025
Considering the last Sowell book was a recent release, for some reason I assumed this one was recent, and around a quarter of the way in, I was wondering why he was pulling so many examples from the 90s for the public school chapters (the era I was in them) when there were so many worse examples he could have used that have come along since then, and duh, looked at the copyright and it was the 90s, which is really...sad that I didn't see how much of what I see now was going on then (of course, I was a kid, so maybe that's a good thing, I was happily oblivious to some of the craziness whereas my own children are not despite the fact they've never stepped foot in a public school.)
And though I think my college education was pretty good (though I had a few professors that obviously didn't teach worth a darn and I wholeheartedly agree with Sowell that education classes are worthless. I even said that when I was taking them, that if you can't ace an education class without even studying, you simply have no business being a teacher. However, I wanted the educational license so I played the game and took the worthless education classes. Unfortunately I know of classmates that didn't ace them and groaned to see them graduate with me, knowing they'd be out teaching, too.) This book is mostly about College level education; I had expected more about k-12. Just know that, still good info though. Thankfully this book made me way more prepared/informed on how to help my kids pick a college/university if they decide to go.
Anyway, as to the book, it got a little redundant at the end, but it was very telling and what I know of the facts first hand as an educator (I've taught a handful of years in public & private k-12 and Community Colleges), what I've dealt with/seen are just as he laid out, and unfortunately, none of his solutions presented at the end of the book have manifested themselves because things are worse. It also solidified my resolve to not go back to public education. I will only educate privately if I return. The higher pay is not the incentive it was when I was fresh out of college. If you actually care about academics, private school is where it is at--as a teacher or as a parent, and if you need info to bolster your resolve when people question you for forgoing a bigger salary or forking over tuition, this will help.
If you are a senior in high school or anyone thinking about going into education and have some actual intelligence about you, I'd suggest you read this first to see if you're willing to wade in. Though it was pubbed in 1993 it's still relevant. Though a few of the questionable, non-academic 90s educational sacred cows are gone, they've unfortunately been replaced with others. This book didn't give me much hope for the public or college-level system, being that nothing has changed for the good in the 30 years since published.
Also want to mention that I'm appalled by the info I learned in this book about how football/basketball college players are treated by colleges. I was always a bit miffed in college that I knew that most of the players were getting full rides and not doing their schoolwork, whereas I was academically on the top of my game and not given the same tuition breaks as they were (and was really annoyed by some who would pester me at one of the residential halls I lived in). However, now I have some pity for them for how they were likely treated by the school. Their deal was likely far worse that I realized. I got the better deal, despite how it looked to me at the time.
And though I think my college education was pretty good (though I had a few professors that obviously didn't teach worth a darn and I wholeheartedly agree with Sowell that education classes are worthless. I even said that when I was taking them, that if you can't ace an education class without even studying, you simply have no business being a teacher. However, I wanted the educational license so I played the game and took the worthless education classes. Unfortunately I know of classmates that didn't ace them and groaned to see them graduate with me, knowing they'd be out teaching, too.) This book is mostly about College level education; I had expected more about k-12. Just know that, still good info though. Thankfully this book made me way more prepared/informed on how to help my kids pick a college/university if they decide to go.
Anyway, as to the book, it got a little redundant at the end, but it was very telling and what I know of the facts first hand as an educator (I've taught a handful of years in public & private k-12 and Community Colleges), what I've dealt with/seen are just as he laid out, and unfortunately, none of his solutions presented at the end of the book have manifested themselves because things are worse. It also solidified my resolve to not go back to public education. I will only educate privately if I return. The higher pay is not the incentive it was when I was fresh out of college. If you actually care about academics, private school is where it is at--as a teacher or as a parent, and if you need info to bolster your resolve when people question you for forgoing a bigger salary or forking over tuition, this will help.
If you are a senior in high school or anyone thinking about going into education and have some actual intelligence about you, I'd suggest you read this first to see if you're willing to wade in. Though it was pubbed in 1993 it's still relevant. Though a few of the questionable, non-academic 90s educational sacred cows are gone, they've unfortunately been replaced with others. This book didn't give me much hope for the public or college-level system, being that nothing has changed for the good in the 30 years since published.
Also want to mention that I'm appalled by the info I learned in this book about how football/basketball college players are treated by colleges. I was always a bit miffed in college that I knew that most of the players were getting full rides and not doing their schoolwork, whereas I was academically on the top of my game and not given the same tuition breaks as they were (and was really annoyed by some who would pester me at one of the residential halls I lived in). However, now I have some pity for them for how they were likely treated by the school. Their deal was likely far worse that I realized. I got the better deal, despite how it looked to me at the time.
September 10, 2025
I heard of the genius of Thomas Sowell through political conversations in the past, and saw parts of an interview he's had. I was impressed with how straightforward and bright he was. So I got his book.
Needless to say, Thomas has shown himself to be very intelligent and a person who likes to get to the root cause of situations. The book itself was great in regard to exposing the systematic rot in our schools and universities. It does a great job introducing the dark side of concepts like tenure, the activism, and even the educational standards teachers have to meet to become teachers whilst in college. I also thought it was extremely interesting to see that things like affirmative action and propaganda classes/unacademic classes existed all the way back in the 60s through the 90s.
Truly, the public ought to be more knowledgeable when it comes to knowing where their money goes with regard to donations and taxes that fill out a school's revenue. If so, there would be a lot more scrutiny and seriousness involved with stamping out the overt brainwashing that goes on in the public fool system. If you want to know why Americans are so stupid and why it's gotten worse in recent times, this book is for you.
I didn't give it a 5 star because of the ridiculous amount of spelling issues in the book. Also because at the end, it felt like it was just repeating the same points it made with little added substance. But otherwise, this book is great and deserves a spot in everyone's library.
Needless to say, Thomas has shown himself to be very intelligent and a person who likes to get to the root cause of situations. The book itself was great in regard to exposing the systematic rot in our schools and universities. It does a great job introducing the dark side of concepts like tenure, the activism, and even the educational standards teachers have to meet to become teachers whilst in college. I also thought it was extremely interesting to see that things like affirmative action and propaganda classes/unacademic classes existed all the way back in the 60s through the 90s.
Truly, the public ought to be more knowledgeable when it comes to knowing where their money goes with regard to donations and taxes that fill out a school's revenue. If so, there would be a lot more scrutiny and seriousness involved with stamping out the overt brainwashing that goes on in the public fool system. If you want to know why Americans are so stupid and why it's gotten worse in recent times, this book is for you.
I didn't give it a 5 star because of the ridiculous amount of spelling issues in the book. Also because at the end, it felt like it was just repeating the same points it made with little added substance. But otherwise, this book is great and deserves a spot in everyone's library.
December 17, 2024
So insightful!
If everybody had read this book, we would’ve not gotten in the mess that we were in with critical race theory, diversity, equity inclusion, a further of action, etc. We have been fooling ourselves into believing that just because we’re doing something means it’s productive and helpful for our students.
We have been failing our students in the education system for far too long. It’s time to finally break up the Monopoly, stop overpaying for terrible results, and give parents a a choice of where they send kids to school. That’s how we started this nation off. We certainly can return back to those structures that actually allow us to be at one time, illiterate nation, unlike today.
If everybody had read this book, we would’ve not gotten in the mess that we were in with critical race theory, diversity, equity inclusion, a further of action, etc. We have been fooling ourselves into believing that just because we’re doing something means it’s productive and helpful for our students.
We have been failing our students in the education system for far too long. It’s time to finally break up the Monopoly, stop overpaying for terrible results, and give parents a a choice of where they send kids to school. That’s how we started this nation off. We certainly can return back to those structures that actually allow us to be at one time, illiterate nation, unlike today.
September 24, 2013
Damning and the book is now almost 20 years old. Anyone who has spent time in the bowels of graduate school will sadly appreciate this work.
June 10, 2011
Thomas Sowell presents clear, commonsense arguments for why American public education at all levels has gone down the toilet in recent years. He spends far more time then I would have liked discussing higher education, but the chapters on K-12 are particularly good. When my child enters school in a few years, you can bet I'll know exactly what's going on in my kid's classroom. At the end, Sowell discusses ways to improve education at all levels, including the inane bureaucracy that rewards seniority rather than outcomes. Some of the ideas and practices he points out were a major part of my educational experience, both as a student and teacher. Forgive the long-winded review, but I just had to include some gems:
p. 55: "The 'objective' specified in one part of a so-called 'gifted and talented' curriculum is: 'To be a risk taker by having the courage to expose oneself to failure or criticisms, to take a guess, to function under conditions devoid of structure or to defend one's own ideas.' The epigraph to this handbook is: Better one's own path though imperfect than the path of another well made.' This motto is offered, not to seasoned and mature adults, but to children in grades 4 through 6." My 2nd grade teacher was really into "risk taking." I remember writing something about myself saying that I was a risk taker. Uh, no. I was exactly the opposite of a risk taker. Fast forward fifteen years as I'm subbing in a suburban Chicago high school. There's a poster in the hall that read, "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" What? Kids need to know there are consequences, both good and bad, to any decision. Telling kids to take risks without weighing the consequences is doing them an enormous disservice.
p. 67, regarding non-academic curriculum that developers don't want parents informed about: "It is precisely the pervasive pattern of undermining parents which makes [these] programs dangerous beyond their particular subject matter.... Even youngsters who develop no problems in these particular areas may nevertheless have their ties with their parents weakened, confused, or otherwise made insecure--especially during the crucial and dangerous adolescent years. The constant conditioning to act independently of parents, and to use similarly inexperienced peers as guides, is an invitation to disaster in many ways....
"Parents are not simply a source of experience from their own lives; they are a conduit for the distilled experience of others in earlier generations, experience conveyed in traditions and moral codes responding to the many dangers that beset human life." He goes on to point out that parents actually have a stake in their children's future, unlike the developers of such curriculum. While I was at SUU, there was a big debate between two professors. One was very conservative, the other very liberal and advocated experimentation rejection of traditional values. At the end of the debate, the conservative professor said, in essence, "You'll hear all these ideas that tell you to experiment and that your parents are wrong, but in the end, you ought to listen to the people who have the most to lose should you make self-destructive decisions. Your professors won't be there to bail you out, but your parents will."
p. 88 has a quote about a "diverse" school in San Francisco at lunch. The white kids are in one corner, the black kids in another, the Asians hanging out in their own group, and the Latino kids by themselves. "'SF schools have spent two decades and more than $100 million on integration programs. Yet outside the classroom--at the lunch counters, on the playgrounds and in the hallways--many ethnic groups still mix as well as oil and water.'" This was true at my Chicago school. The administration even went as far as to have a week where students were encouraged to talk to someone new at lunch and were provided conversation starters. It went over like a lead balloon. Even in the most diverse schools, students gravitate to others like themselves.
p. 218-19 on classroom visits: "Those who believe that a classroom visit is likely to be a great source of information about teaching repeat the fatal fallacy of education professors, that there is such a thing as teaching, separate from the substantive knowledge being taught. The conveying of that knowledge, and of the intellectual skills and discipline which give it meaning, is ultimately what teaching consists of. If these things are conveyed from one mind to another, then the teaching has been successful, no matter how chaotic and clumsy the classroom management may be. By the same token, if it fails to happen, then teaching has been a failure, no matter how smoothly or impressively the classroom has been managed, or how happy or inspired the students feel." I wish more than anything someone had taught me how to teach.
p. 288-89 on education courses: "The biggest liability of the American public school system is the legal requirement that education courses be taken by people who seek careers as tenured teachers. these courses are almost unanimously condemned--by scholars who have studied them, teachers who have taken them, and anyone else with the misfortune to have encountered them. The crucial importance of these courses, and the irreparable damage they do, is not because of what they teach or do not teach. It is because they are the filter though which the flow of teachers must pass. Mediocrity and incompetence flow freely through these filters, but the filter out many high-ability people, who refuse to subject themselves the the inanity of education courses, which are the laughing stock of many universities." My education classes were mostly worthless. When you did something incorrectly, you were not given a failing grade; you were told to redo it as many times as you need to in order for you to get it right. I had to make a diagram of my classroom (before I was assigned to a teacher) and reflect on my lesson plans (before I gave them). I had to sit through presentation after presentation by future teachers who didn't know how to project their voices or explain something clearly in a set amount of time. I had no idea how to manage a classroom. I had little idea how to present information to high school students. I learned a lot about how to make accommodations for theoretical ESL and special ed students. I learned how to jump through their stupid hoops. And like many in my profession, I was gone before my third year.
p. 55: "The 'objective' specified in one part of a so-called 'gifted and talented' curriculum is: 'To be a risk taker by having the courage to expose oneself to failure or criticisms, to take a guess, to function under conditions devoid of structure or to defend one's own ideas.' The epigraph to this handbook is: Better one's own path though imperfect than the path of another well made.' This motto is offered, not to seasoned and mature adults, but to children in grades 4 through 6." My 2nd grade teacher was really into "risk taking." I remember writing something about myself saying that I was a risk taker. Uh, no. I was exactly the opposite of a risk taker. Fast forward fifteen years as I'm subbing in a suburban Chicago high school. There's a poster in the hall that read, "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" What? Kids need to know there are consequences, both good and bad, to any decision. Telling kids to take risks without weighing the consequences is doing them an enormous disservice.
p. 67, regarding non-academic curriculum that developers don't want parents informed about: "It is precisely the pervasive pattern of undermining parents which makes [these] programs dangerous beyond their particular subject matter.... Even youngsters who develop no problems in these particular areas may nevertheless have their ties with their parents weakened, confused, or otherwise made insecure--especially during the crucial and dangerous adolescent years. The constant conditioning to act independently of parents, and to use similarly inexperienced peers as guides, is an invitation to disaster in many ways....
"Parents are not simply a source of experience from their own lives; they are a conduit for the distilled experience of others in earlier generations, experience conveyed in traditions and moral codes responding to the many dangers that beset human life." He goes on to point out that parents actually have a stake in their children's future, unlike the developers of such curriculum. While I was at SUU, there was a big debate between two professors. One was very conservative, the other very liberal and advocated experimentation rejection of traditional values. At the end of the debate, the conservative professor said, in essence, "You'll hear all these ideas that tell you to experiment and that your parents are wrong, but in the end, you ought to listen to the people who have the most to lose should you make self-destructive decisions. Your professors won't be there to bail you out, but your parents will."
p. 88 has a quote about a "diverse" school in San Francisco at lunch. The white kids are in one corner, the black kids in another, the Asians hanging out in their own group, and the Latino kids by themselves. "'SF schools have spent two decades and more than $100 million on integration programs. Yet outside the classroom--at the lunch counters, on the playgrounds and in the hallways--many ethnic groups still mix as well as oil and water.'" This was true at my Chicago school. The administration even went as far as to have a week where students were encouraged to talk to someone new at lunch and were provided conversation starters. It went over like a lead balloon. Even in the most diverse schools, students gravitate to others like themselves.
p. 218-19 on classroom visits: "Those who believe that a classroom visit is likely to be a great source of information about teaching repeat the fatal fallacy of education professors, that there is such a thing as teaching, separate from the substantive knowledge being taught. The conveying of that knowledge, and of the intellectual skills and discipline which give it meaning, is ultimately what teaching consists of. If these things are conveyed from one mind to another, then the teaching has been successful, no matter how chaotic and clumsy the classroom management may be. By the same token, if it fails to happen, then teaching has been a failure, no matter how smoothly or impressively the classroom has been managed, or how happy or inspired the students feel." I wish more than anything someone had taught me how to teach.
p. 288-89 on education courses: "The biggest liability of the American public school system is the legal requirement that education courses be taken by people who seek careers as tenured teachers. these courses are almost unanimously condemned--by scholars who have studied them, teachers who have taken them, and anyone else with the misfortune to have encountered them. The crucial importance of these courses, and the irreparable damage they do, is not because of what they teach or do not teach. It is because they are the filter though which the flow of teachers must pass. Mediocrity and incompetence flow freely through these filters, but the filter out many high-ability people, who refuse to subject themselves the the inanity of education courses, which are the laughing stock of many universities." My education classes were mostly worthless. When you did something incorrectly, you were not given a failing grade; you were told to redo it as many times as you need to in order for you to get it right. I had to make a diagram of my classroom (before I was assigned to a teacher) and reflect on my lesson plans (before I gave them). I had to sit through presentation after presentation by future teachers who didn't know how to project their voices or explain something clearly in a set amount of time. I had no idea how to manage a classroom. I had little idea how to present information to high school students. I learned a lot about how to make accommodations for theoretical ESL and special ed students. I learned how to jump through their stupid hoops. And like many in my profession, I was gone before my third year.
July 6, 2019
As someone who worked in the education system himself for a good part of his career, Thomas Sowell is well equipped to discuss the decline of American Education and, perhaps more importantly, the reasons for that. The author points out, in a way that is likely to seem rather harsh to those in the education field, the incompetence of students who study education and often fail to be more intelligent and knowledgeable than their students, as well as the politicized aspects of education that seem designed to corrupt the education of young people and discourage the development of sound reasoning in exchange for appeals to emotion that make those who grow up in the education system susceptible to emotional manipulation towards destructive ends pushed by leftist progressives. The result is not a particularly pretty picture, but it is certainly an honest if pointed one. This book is more about pointing out what is wrong with education, and presents no easy answers because there are no particularly easy examples, as good education is a rather expensive and labor-intensive matter that requires a fair amount of work by people who are both committed to educating rather than corrupting children and who have the knowledge and insight to provide children with that education.
This book is about 300 pages long and consists of three parts and eleven chapters. The author begins with a preface and then introduces the decline, deception, and dogmas that are involved in the contemporary American education system (1). Part one then looks at schools, which chapters that discuss the impaired faculties for education (2), the way that classroom brianwashing has taken the place of sound education (3), and the assorted dogmas that are related to contemporary education that simply do not pass muster (4). The author then turns his satirical eye towards colleges and universities, with chapters on the danger of admissions standards that are skewed for favored minorities (5), the connection between new racism and old dogmatism among the left (6), the ideological double standards that serve the interests of leftists while disregarding equity and justice and fair dealing in judgments (7), the way that teaching has become ideologically loaded and harmful preaching (8), and matters of athletic support that further lower the standards of educational systems (9). Finally, the author discusses his assessment of the education system, with chapters on the way the education system has resisted reforms (10), and the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the American educational system (11), after which there are notes and an index.
Why is American education so dreadful compared to other countries? Money is not the issue--at least not in the aggregate--we spend a lot of money on education but little of it gets filtered down to the students. Politics seems to be at the root of so many educational problems, as having an educational system that would equip children with genuine reasoning skills would allow those children to critique the sort of leftist pablum that passes for education and would demand too much of teachers who are not always very well qualified to pass on substantive knowledge about the fields that they are purportedly instructing. When one adds to this the fact that education majors are the least skilled students in universities, and the massive political sensitivities related to the entrenched interests in the education system, and it is obvious that any change of the education system for the better will have to involve a great deal of massive change that is painful for those who are currently profiting from it. Sowell does not sugarcoat the difficulty of the task, but merely clinically and unsparingly points out the manifest failures of America's education system and how it came to be such a mess.
This book is about 300 pages long and consists of three parts and eleven chapters. The author begins with a preface and then introduces the decline, deception, and dogmas that are involved in the contemporary American education system (1). Part one then looks at schools, which chapters that discuss the impaired faculties for education (2), the way that classroom brianwashing has taken the place of sound education (3), and the assorted dogmas that are related to contemporary education that simply do not pass muster (4). The author then turns his satirical eye towards colleges and universities, with chapters on the danger of admissions standards that are skewed for favored minorities (5), the connection between new racism and old dogmatism among the left (6), the ideological double standards that serve the interests of leftists while disregarding equity and justice and fair dealing in judgments (7), the way that teaching has become ideologically loaded and harmful preaching (8), and matters of athletic support that further lower the standards of educational systems (9). Finally, the author discusses his assessment of the education system, with chapters on the way the education system has resisted reforms (10), and the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the American educational system (11), after which there are notes and an index.
Why is American education so dreadful compared to other countries? Money is not the issue--at least not in the aggregate--we spend a lot of money on education but little of it gets filtered down to the students. Politics seems to be at the root of so many educational problems, as having an educational system that would equip children with genuine reasoning skills would allow those children to critique the sort of leftist pablum that passes for education and would demand too much of teachers who are not always very well qualified to pass on substantive knowledge about the fields that they are purportedly instructing. When one adds to this the fact that education majors are the least skilled students in universities, and the massive political sensitivities related to the entrenched interests in the education system, and it is obvious that any change of the education system for the better will have to involve a great deal of massive change that is painful for those who are currently profiting from it. Sowell does not sugarcoat the difficulty of the task, but merely clinically and unsparingly points out the manifest failures of America's education system and how it came to be such a mess.
July 22, 2016
Easily one of Thomas Sowell's best works. Inside American Education is a non-fiction horror story about the education system in America and how political correctness and multiculturalism are corrupting it. Although there were some repeats from his previous works, it was well crafted and worthy of a good read.
May 24, 2024
This was originally written in the 90’s and was updated a little in 2010. It’s so interesting that Sowell was able to predict a lot of where we currently are in acedemia (you can tell his 90’s portions from the date of his many sources).
January 23, 2014
Recommended to anyone interested in a very clear and consice explanation of the state of American Education—filled with facts and information that supports Sowell's analysis.
August 29, 2011
I expected this to be too old to be relevant. Not the case. Infallibly accurate and conscious as usual.
March 23, 2024
My head is spinning. A marvelous read for parents, young adults and all educators.
August 23, 2025
Without knowing that this book was published in 1992, you would think it was published very recently. Being an educator and a student of the history and methodologies of teaching this book is prophetic in the sense of Sowell pin pointing the trajectory of the American education system to make it relevant today and possibly more so than contemporary books about the same issue at hand.
Sowell tackles the issue of American schools in three parts.
The first addresses K-12 schools “Imparied Faculties” (Ch. 2) where he argues that the combination of more administrators causes actually ‘good’ teachers to be pushed out of teaching due to woke teachers advancing DEI (Woke ideaology) in the classroom leading to “Classroom Brainwashing” (Ch. 3). In Ch. 4, Sowell address the ‘Dogmas’ that go along with this woke ideaology making connections to Marxism and Communism.
Part two shifts its focus to “Colleges and Universities.” Showing how admin having a priority to reach out and accept students via DEI (Ch. 5), which leads to less intellectually gifted students going to elite Colleges and Universities and getting bad grades because they are not as intellectually gifted than students who were accepted based on really high ACT scores while their score might be half. Due to bad grades from students who were accepted via DEI, they claim it is not because of their intellect but rather the professor or institution is racist (Ch. 6). Then admin of the institution will enforce “Ideaological Double Standards” (Ch. 7), causing duplistic rules which lead to non-DEI students being frustrated that lesser qualified students are getting grades they do not deserve, exceptions, and a lesser work load. Chapter 8, talks about “Teaching and Preaching.” Where Sowell shows from various institutions across the country how they have woke and non-woke professors at the same institution. The woke professors will discrimate thinking or views outside of their own and will punish students grades accordingly (Preaching). While professors who actually are available and teach quality material are (Teaching).
In Part three, Sowell analysis the implications of these ideaologies and their impact. He debunks the myth that “more money equals a better education,” showing how more money has beeb equated to a worst education in schools and universities.
Must read book!
Sowell tackles the issue of American schools in three parts.
The first addresses K-12 schools “Imparied Faculties” (Ch. 2) where he argues that the combination of more administrators causes actually ‘good’ teachers to be pushed out of teaching due to woke teachers advancing DEI (Woke ideaology) in the classroom leading to “Classroom Brainwashing” (Ch. 3). In Ch. 4, Sowell address the ‘Dogmas’ that go along with this woke ideaology making connections to Marxism and Communism.
Part two shifts its focus to “Colleges and Universities.” Showing how admin having a priority to reach out and accept students via DEI (Ch. 5), which leads to less intellectually gifted students going to elite Colleges and Universities and getting bad grades because they are not as intellectually gifted than students who were accepted based on really high ACT scores while their score might be half. Due to bad grades from students who were accepted via DEI, they claim it is not because of their intellect but rather the professor or institution is racist (Ch. 6). Then admin of the institution will enforce “Ideaological Double Standards” (Ch. 7), causing duplistic rules which lead to non-DEI students being frustrated that lesser qualified students are getting grades they do not deserve, exceptions, and a lesser work load. Chapter 8, talks about “Teaching and Preaching.” Where Sowell shows from various institutions across the country how they have woke and non-woke professors at the same institution. The woke professors will discrimate thinking or views outside of their own and will punish students grades accordingly (Preaching). While professors who actually are available and teach quality material are (Teaching).
In Part three, Sowell analysis the implications of these ideaologies and their impact. He debunks the myth that “more money equals a better education,” showing how more money has beeb equated to a worst education in schools and universities.
Must read book!
December 20, 2021
A book for people who already have their mind made up, don't look to this one to educate but rather just complain about the US Education system via anecdotal evidence and strawman Conservative talking points.
Firstly, Sowell's writing is pretty rough and thoughts not super well organized so I don't imagine he had the best editor. It kind of feels like your crazy uncle going on a rant. At one point he quotes himself without acknowledging so (I assume it's supposed to be wink-nudge) and also writes about "half time" in hockey (it doesn't take much research to know hockey has 3 periods). Secondly, this book is from the early 90s and is OUT OF DATE. Some of the things he rails against as the cause of America's decline, such as death education, I had never heard of even though it allegedly lines up perfectly with my time in public school. It's almost like it was included for outrage rather than relevance.
And that really leads to my biggest complaint about the book, which is that it's disingenuous. Sowell takes strawman arguments or elevates niche items to make them seem mainstream and then dismisses any counter argument by saying that it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. He claims that teachers unions and education degrees keep out good teachers and should be more like private schools (however if private schools are better why do their teachers get paid less?) He says China is better because they don't teach ideologies but rely on standardized tests (Sowell doesn't acknowledge that standardized tests are common practice in the US.) Students in Japan learn math while in the US we teach drivers ed (is Sowell willfully ignoring that math is a core subject and taught everywhere in the US?) At one point he dismisses the defenses of "attitude curriculum" as anecdotal while presenting anecdotal evidence in opposition. It's that hypocrisy that really drove me away from this book.
I should note that Sowell makes a couple interesting points that I'd like to hear more on, namely how elite institutions can create cascading effects to state level institutions and how research has overcome teaching as a university's primary focus, but most of the book is just Conservative talking points to strawman arguments.
I think there is a lot to be critiqued about the successes and failures of the American education system and would be interested in learning more, but this book ain't it. This is not a book that's trying to offer solutions or educate the reader, it's just a gripe session... but it's interesting how the same gripes are being used 30 years later.
Firstly, Sowell's writing is pretty rough and thoughts not super well organized so I don't imagine he had the best editor. It kind of feels like your crazy uncle going on a rant. At one point he quotes himself without acknowledging so (I assume it's supposed to be wink-nudge) and also writes about "half time" in hockey (it doesn't take much research to know hockey has 3 periods). Secondly, this book is from the early 90s and is OUT OF DATE. Some of the things he rails against as the cause of America's decline, such as death education, I had never heard of even though it allegedly lines up perfectly with my time in public school. It's almost like it was included for outrage rather than relevance.
And that really leads to my biggest complaint about the book, which is that it's disingenuous. Sowell takes strawman arguments or elevates niche items to make them seem mainstream and then dismisses any counter argument by saying that it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. He claims that teachers unions and education degrees keep out good teachers and should be more like private schools (however if private schools are better why do their teachers get paid less?) He says China is better because they don't teach ideologies but rely on standardized tests (Sowell doesn't acknowledge that standardized tests are common practice in the US.) Students in Japan learn math while in the US we teach drivers ed (is Sowell willfully ignoring that math is a core subject and taught everywhere in the US?) At one point he dismisses the defenses of "attitude curriculum" as anecdotal while presenting anecdotal evidence in opposition. It's that hypocrisy that really drove me away from this book.
I should note that Sowell makes a couple interesting points that I'd like to hear more on, namely how elite institutions can create cascading effects to state level institutions and how research has overcome teaching as a university's primary focus, but most of the book is just Conservative talking points to strawman arguments.
I think there is a lot to be critiqued about the successes and failures of the American education system and would be interested in learning more, but this book ain't it. This is not a book that's trying to offer solutions or educate the reader, it's just a gripe session... but it's interesting how the same gripes are being used 30 years later.
August 10, 2023
Read review with additional content on my blog Book Reviews page.
This book was published in ’92, but you would think it came out yesterday. The public education system hasn’t improved and faces the same problems. Academia has gotten worse and has yet to confront any of the issues thoroughly discussed in this book. It was refreshing to see the data, the results or lack of results, that this never-ending money pit we call public education has produced. While other books are usually firsthand accounts of one’s experience with teaching within this system, this book provides a larger picture of the system as a whole that only an economist could provide while also including individual accounts as examples of implementation. As someone who has a Master’s Degree, I have personally found conversations with school teachers alarming to the lack of competence they generally exude. This book shines light on the fact that a degree in education is one of the least demanding and easiest degrees to obtain.
Speak to these teachers about their classes and their job and you will find those that teach math, took less math classes than you. Those who teach history, have never read a history book in their life. Yet they seem to be really good at teaching our children that their parents are the dummies when the least competent students and professors are found in the education department. If what they were teaching students was academic in nature, they would not be the ideal choice. Fortunately for them, they focus more on teaching ideology, and their success in doing so is not being measured.
“Public Education” has become Orwellian in that “Public Indoctrination” may be a more appropriate name for it.
Of course, there are exceptions, and I have met some teachers who are competent, and they also seem to express frustration teaching within the confines set by school administration which this book also expounds on. The few quality educators are punished, and the worst educators are promoted based on seniority and are near impossible to fire. This book should be read by all those who have invested interests: parents, and taxpayers in America.
This book was published in ’92, but you would think it came out yesterday. The public education system hasn’t improved and faces the same problems. Academia has gotten worse and has yet to confront any of the issues thoroughly discussed in this book. It was refreshing to see the data, the results or lack of results, that this never-ending money pit we call public education has produced. While other books are usually firsthand accounts of one’s experience with teaching within this system, this book provides a larger picture of the system as a whole that only an economist could provide while also including individual accounts as examples of implementation. As someone who has a Master’s Degree, I have personally found conversations with school teachers alarming to the lack of competence they generally exude. This book shines light on the fact that a degree in education is one of the least demanding and easiest degrees to obtain.
Speak to these teachers about their classes and their job and you will find those that teach math, took less math classes than you. Those who teach history, have never read a history book in their life. Yet they seem to be really good at teaching our children that their parents are the dummies when the least competent students and professors are found in the education department. If what they were teaching students was academic in nature, they would not be the ideal choice. Fortunately for them, they focus more on teaching ideology, and their success in doing so is not being measured.
“Public Education” has become Orwellian in that “Public Indoctrination” may be a more appropriate name for it.
Of course, there are exceptions, and I have met some teachers who are competent, and they also seem to express frustration teaching within the confines set by school administration which this book also expounds on. The few quality educators are punished, and the worst educators are promoted based on seniority and are near impossible to fire. This book should be read by all those who have invested interests: parents, and taxpayers in America.
October 23, 2023
In “Inside American Education,” Thomas Sowell gives incredible insights into the educational establishment of the United States which in his words is "A vast tax-supported empire existing quasi-independently within American society - is morally and intellectually bankrupt."
That description was dubious in my mind until I read this book. Thomas Sowell takes a topic that is vast and intricate and gives anecdotes, examples, and research that help make the topic being discussed easy to understand. In doing so he helps the reader more deeply understand why he comes to the conclusions he has. A conclusion that is hard to argue against. There were ideas and facts discussed here that I have never considered being a part of the education discussion. It was an eye-opening experience for this reader. One of the things I very much appreciate about Thomas Sowell is that he offers solutions to the dilemmas identified. These solutions however are monumental in their implementation and will only be possible when the people of the United States wake up and demand accountability from our education system rather than leave it to self-governance by those who benefit from the status quo.
That description was dubious in my mind until I read this book. Thomas Sowell takes a topic that is vast and intricate and gives anecdotes, examples, and research that help make the topic being discussed easy to understand. In doing so he helps the reader more deeply understand why he comes to the conclusions he has. A conclusion that is hard to argue against. There were ideas and facts discussed here that I have never considered being a part of the education discussion. It was an eye-opening experience for this reader. One of the things I very much appreciate about Thomas Sowell is that he offers solutions to the dilemmas identified. These solutions however are monumental in their implementation and will only be possible when the people of the United States wake up and demand accountability from our education system rather than leave it to self-governance by those who benefit from the status quo.
May 11, 2012
The part of this book that stayed with me was Sowell's description of death education in the public schools. Students are asked to discuss the deaths of their family members, and to practice writing suicide notes and their own obituaries. Sometimes, they even have field trips to the morgue and are encouraged to touch the corpses. Perhaps there is a place in public education for learning about sex, religion and death, but it should be done in an objective and unemotional manner. Children should not be subjected to such a great invasion of their personal privacy. Sowell compares these desensitizing experiences to brainwashing techniques. I see a similarity to the sexual histories that Alfred Kinsey attempted to take from most of his visitors.
May 5, 2022
Horrifying. Simply horrifying. And in truth, everything that he shares about the decline that is happening in our education system, didn't happen overnight. This has been happening little by little. The non-academic courses, when sponsors are hidden, have ulterior motives and are creating negative division between peers and between parent/student relationships. Tragic beyond words. As an educator, I can't begin to tell you how this book moved me. I cannot stay in public education much longer because of the direction much of the curriculum is heading. Very disheartening and wrong on so many levels. Dr. Sowell has a gift with words and tells it like it is. I appreciate his unabashed thoughts and information he is so willing to share.
March 25, 2025
Reading Inside American Education by Thomas Sowell is a critical examination of the American education system, highlighting its flaws, ideological biases, and inefficiencies. Here’s why you might want to read it:
1. Insightful Critique – Sowell argues that the education system prioritizes political and social agendas over academic excellence, leading to declining standards.
2. Exposes Bureaucracy – The book details how administrative bloat and inefficiency hinder student learning.
3. Emphasis on Accountability – Sowell advocates for greater accountability in education, from teachers to policymakers.
4. Data-Driven Analysis – He backs up his claims with statistics, studies, and historical trends.
1. Insightful Critique – Sowell argues that the education system prioritizes political and social agendas over academic excellence, leading to declining standards.
2. Exposes Bureaucracy – The book details how administrative bloat and inefficiency hinder student learning.
3. Emphasis on Accountability – Sowell advocates for greater accountability in education, from teachers to policymakers.
4. Data-Driven Analysis – He backs up his claims with statistics, studies, and historical trends.
May 21, 2022
This is one of the best of Sowell’s books. He does a great job skewering the education community on everything from brainwashing, to admissions, to wokeness and outright scams on tuition, research and bad accounting. Over the past fifty years, aided by the government’s infusion of money, the education system has gone from a national treasure to a disaster. Sowell exposes it all. I highly recommend this book to everyone with kids, and anyone who is interested in what’s gone wrong in the country and the role that the NEA and left leaning academics are playing in our decline.
May 31, 2022
Still Relevant
Although this was written in 2010, referencing the US, this still seems to apply, and to Canada as well. The non-academic social causes have been rebranded, from Politically Correct to various Woke and Social Justice flavours, including LGBTQ2S… (CRT is mentioned, but only in law schools). The “studies” departments are still there, and new things like ethnic Mathematics have multiplied. However, for the public to get accurate information is still hard and time consuming.
Although this was written in 2010, referencing the US, this still seems to apply, and to Canada as well. The non-academic social causes have been rebranded, from Politically Correct to various Woke and Social Justice flavours, including LGBTQ2S… (CRT is mentioned, but only in law schools). The “studies” departments are still there, and new things like ethnic Mathematics have multiplied. However, for the public to get accurate information is still hard and time consuming.
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