Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 188
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9⅜
978-1-4758-2870-2 • Hardback • December 2016 • $71.00 • (£55.00)
978-1-4758-2871-9 • Paperback • December 2016 • $36.00 • (£30.00)
978-1-4758-2872-6 • eBook • December 2016 • $34.00 • (£25.00)
Bruce Jay Gevirtzman is a part-time instructor in communications at California State University, Fullerton. He taught English for 37 years, coached both Little League and high school baseball, and wrote and directed more than 25 plays. He was “District Teacher of the Year” and won the “Crystal Apple Award from NBC.” He lives in Brea, California with his wife and two teenage children.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Bum Rap
1. The Myths of Superman
2. Frustration of Shame
3. It Ain’t the Coal Mines
4. A Straw Man Named tenure
5. Not A Teacher’s Friend
6. Good Teachers, Bad Advocates
7. Feeding the Hand That Bites You
8. One Size Does Not Fit All
9. Making the Grade
10. Teachers Are People, Too
11. The Naked Emperor
12. Forbidden Territory: Sssssh!
Long overdue in this country is a meaningful and honest discussion of the role played by teachers and teacher unions within our educational framework. In his new book, Bruce Gevirtzman addresses a myriad controversial issues facing today's educators. By discerning truth from fiction in regard to teacher competency and behavior, Bruce presents a courageous and revealing analysis of the awesome impact teachers and their unions have on our children.
— Eugene Leydiker, Attorney, Los Angeles, California
As a former student of Mr. Gevirtzman—and then a teacher, an assistant principal, and a high school principal, I know that he has the interests of America’s teachers at heart. Mr. Gevirtzman understands the frustrations that teachers encounter every day on the job, and he enlightens his readers by naming the tools teachers require to help them get through this low point in American education.
— Nermin Fraser, Education Unlimited's Director of Admissions
Bruce’s sardonic sense of humor never loses the fact that what’s happening in education is a serious state of affairs. You will chuckle through even the bad times, but with a sense of irony and befuddlement.
— Jacquelyn Sill, author of “Where the Water Rages”
Ultimately, the success of our schools spends upon our teachers’ ability to teach. But our teachers' ability to teach often depends on external factors, too many beyond our teachers’ control. In this riveting book, Bruce J. Gevirtzman argues in defense of America’s teachers, by alluding to those factors for which teachers have been unfairly maligned and ridiculed, resulting in a system that perpetuates mediocrity, while promoting ridiculously high levels of needless stress and confusion among our children.
— Eric Jordan, former president of a local branch of the California Teachers Association