Ravitch writes a detailed and well researched discussion on the issues of the American school system, albeit dated by its 2010 publication. With a cutting review of the failures of No Child Left Behind, testing, and corporate and billionaire philanthropist “reforms,” the book clearly shows what is wrong. Where it fails, however, is in showing how to make it right. Ravitch is vague, outdated, and under false illusions as to the appropriate changes to save the American school system, with claims as to the value of a standardized “reading list of classics” and the need to educate students for a “useful life.” A good read for the history of how our system fell, but not a good resource for how to stand it up again.