The Crumbling Schoolhouse: A Candid Look at American Education

 It’s the first day of school. You wake up and you’re nervous, but excited, about the new year and seeing your friends. You put on your new shoes, and a clean shirt, and you load up your backpack. You walk into school and start the school year. Your teachers give you a syllabus, share some expectations, and start teaching you some content. You then go into the school cafeteria, see your friends, eat a Salisbury steak, and go on to your next class. You get on a bus and go home at the end of the day. The end of the year brings final exams and the advent of summer vacation. If you are like millions of Americans, you did this for 13 years in a row. There was some nuance in this experience depending on what decade you were in school, but it didn’t change a lot for most students.

Fast forward to today. The schoolhouse you remember is now crumbling. The nostalgia has been replaced by a more stressful experience. There is a myriad of issues that need to be understood to make education better. This book emerged from the firsthand experiences of school leader, Dr. Eric H. Tornfelt. Tornfelt helps parents, as well as current and prospective educators, understand why the schoolhouse is crumbling. The reader is equipped to understand the complexity of these issues and develop a greater knowledge of each one. A set of questions accompanies each chapter giving readers the ability to engage in these topics within a group setting. The Crumbling Schoolhouse will enable readers to have rich reflection and dialogue with colleagues or peers and ultimately have a deeper impact on the future of education.