| Abstract: | In this review essay, William Proefriedt argues that it may be possible to reformulate three apparently irreconcilable stances in a manner that would allow more interaction among the elements championed within each stance. The arguments addressed are (1) the argument for the efficacy of educational reform; (2) the argument that social and economic realities decisively undercut the efficacy of educational reform; and (3) the argument that the heritability of IQ is dramatically more determinative of individuals' school and economic success than any set of school policies and practices. Proefriedt seeks to examine these positions as they have been developed in Linda Darling‐Hammond et al.'s Powerful Learning: What We Know About Teaching for Understanding, Richard Rothstein's Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black‐White Achievement Gap, and Charles Murray's Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality. He concludes that the three analyses under consideration can be formulated so that each might serve to complement the strengths and correct the deficiencies of the others, thus yielding a broader explanatory scheme that could lead to wiser policies. |
