The Manufactured Crisis, David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle, Addison-Wesley, 1995. $25.00 (hardcover)
The debate over the quality and effectiveness of American public schools reached new heights during the last decade. Fueled by ever-increasing economic disparities between Black and white and rich and poor in America, public schools have become the object of significant criticism.
“The Manufactured Crisis” by David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle, both professors of psychology, is an attempt to discredit the critics of American public education.
Published on the heels of “The Bell Curve,” “The Decline of Intelligence in America,” and “The End of Racism” — controversial books that focus on the social and educational problems of American minorities and the problems of our educational system — “The Manufactured Crisis” represents a radical departure from these naysayers and adds balance to a debate beset with conflicting and controversial data and allegations.
The crisis of confidence in the public schools began with the 1982 White House report, “A Nation at Risk,” which Berliner and Biddle contend falsely proclaims the loss of American heretofore worldwide pre-eminence in education.
Berliner and Biddle attack the myth that Americans have been performing poorly on standardized assessments (ACT, SAT), saying that not only are the data improperly used in comparing the United States with the rest of the world, but that the tests themselves do not properly measure intelligence and academic potential.
In addition, Berliner and Biddle summarily refute what they claim are a number of myths and frauds about American education. The most significant of the claims that they challenge are that achievement and ability are on the decline, that Americans spend more money on education than other countries, that money is not related to school achievement and that American public schools are incompetent.
