In Getting Education Right, Rick Hess and Mike McShane argue that America has too long suffered from the absence of a robust, coherent, and principled conservative vision for educational improvement. The book both diagnoses a problem and offers a solution. The problem? The right has too narrowly focused on school choice, campus speech, and shrinking Washington's footprint, while the left has sought to subsidize and supersize the status quo. The solution? An education system imbued with shared values, respectful of family ties, and equipped for the challenges of the 21st century. Rooted in fundamental conservative principles, the book explains both how we got here and where we need to go when it comes to early childhood, K-12, and higher education. Eschewing performative polemics, this book offers a field guide to bringing education back to its formative mission. Readers from across the ideological spectrum will benefit from engaging with the provocative analysis Hess and McShane offer, whether or not they agree with the policies they propose. Education is the foundation on which America's future will be constructed, and Getting Education Right provides a timely blueprint for that project. Book Features: A conservative vision for the direction of American education in early childhood, K-12, and higher education. A stimulating and informative presentation for audiences across the ideological spectrum. An explanation of what it means to be a conservative in education today applied to a series of crucial questions about American schooling. A readable and accessible text with plenty of anecdotes, provocative data points, and real-world solutions. Authors who are especially well-suited to this task given their prominence as influential conservative scholars and pundits.
Frederick M. Hess is a senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the popular Education Week blog, "Rick Hess Straight Up." Michael Q. McShane is director of national research at EdChoice and an opinion contributor to Forbes.
Contents Preface ?xiii Acknowledgments ?xix 1. Core Values ?1 What Makes a Conservative in Education? ?5 The Beliefs That Anchor Our Approach to Education ?10 The Book Ahead ?19 2. A Bit of History ?21 The Origins of Our Education System ?22 Post-War Conservatism and the Nation's Schools ?24 The 1980s and 1990s: A Nation at Risk ?25 The 2000s: No Child Left Behind ?27 The 2010s and the Pandemic: Backlash Against Bureaucracy ?28 Lessons Learned ?30 3. Pro-Family Policies ?37 Enmeshing Families in Webs of Support ?41 Building Family-Friendly Communities ?44 Direct Financial Support for Families ?47 Navigating an Online Childhood ?49 Overhauling Adoption and Foster Care ?52 4. Early Childhood Education ?57 The Elephant in the Room ?59 The Other Elephant in the Room ?64 Little Platoons for Little People ?65 ESAs for Every 3- and 4-Year-Old ?67 Workplace-Based Child Care ?68 Resisting the Nanny State ?70 5. K-12 Education ?73 The World After School ?75 The Handshake Between Student and Teacher ?77 What Do We Want From Schools? ?78 A Conservative K-12 Agenda ?82 Custodial School Reform ?90 6. Higher Education ?93 Wisdom vs. Wokeness ?95 Groupthink and Orthodoxy ?98 Embrace the Logic of Unbundling ?99 Control College Costs ?101 Make Sure College Enrollment Is a Choice ?103 Protect Free Inquiry ?105 Stop Subsidizing Payoff-Based College Admissions ?108 Don't Just Fix Colleges, Build Them ?109 Getting Higher Ed on the Right Track ?111 7. Questions & Answers ?113 8. What Now? ?129 The Recess Rorschach Test ?131 Plenty More Where That Came From ?132 A Forward-Looking, Healthy Conservatism ?134 Education That Values Our Little Platoons ?136 Free to Reimagine ?137 Putting a Vibrant Conservatism to Work ?139 Endnotes ?143 Index ?161 About the Authors ?167
