Book review: Real Education

Charles Murray is co-author of the very controversial book The Bell Curve. He is described as a “professional contrarian”. Murray analyzes statistics and comes up with some very uncomfortable conclusions – things we don’t want to hear. His work was instrumental in reforming the American welfare system because he could point out what works – and what doesn’t.

Now Murray takes on our preconceptions of the educational systems and bluntly points out that school reform without “family” reform is basically useless. There is so much data out there pointing to the fact that most children are caught in there own level of intelligence. We should make decisions more on this fact. For example, less young adults should attend college and more get vocational training. We need to do a better job of training the elite – a very controversial point of view. But certainly the lowering of standards in our educational systems is not helping very many people – or the nation.

If you are ready to open your mind to another way of thinking about education, then welcome to a book that will spin your head around. Murray’s contribution to the debate is crucial.