ABSTRACT
Public schools are under attack. However, charges that public schools are inadequate are not new. Politicians have frequently argued that an acute crisis exists in American education. Historically crises centered on the low quality of public education have been found to be overblown. Therefore, it is important to understand if today's politicians are simply crying wolf (once again) for political purposes. In chapter 3 we address evidence to determine whether our schools are in crisis; here we review historical cries of crisis in American schools.
