The Coming Collapse and Recovery of Public Education by Don Wilber
“The Coming Collapse and Recovery of Public Education by Don Wilber is a free audio novel dealing with our educational problems and their solutions. It describes the causes and the cures that will be economically forced upon us. The book deals largely with procedural issues, but when resolved, it will allow solutions to the content issues as well. There can be no solutions until public education collapses, not just fails.
Teachers have the strongest union and the most powerful political influence in the nation. Public education is the most expensive public service in the world when considering local, state, and federal support. It cannot reform voluntarily and must collapse in order to recover.
The novel is cast in the characters of Juan Rumescuela (one room school) and Manny Rumescuela (many room school) who represent the private and public schools. It traces the educational progress of both paths and describes the reasons for them. The recovery of public education will occur in ways that will make the current system unrecognizable. It will take years of unavoidable grief and educational carnage to morph into the best educational system ever known.”