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It Simply Must Be Said: A View of American Public Education from the Trenches of Teaching

Hank Warren
iUniverse (2009)
ISBN 9781440134005
Reviewed by Kam Aures for Rebeccasreads.com (05/10)


In “It Simply Must Be Said: A View of American Public Education from the Trenches of Teaching,” Hank Warren draws from his 34 years of experience as a school teacher and presents us with what he feels needs to happen in order to improve the educational system.   He uses many true-life stories to exemplify the issues at hand and to show why there is a need for change. 

In the first chapter of the book, Warren lays out the main topics that the book will cover which include separating fact from fiction, teaching vs. the bureaucracy of education, teacher/student/parent issues, legal issues regarding special education students, and suggestions to improve the current educational system.

One of the most striking issues for me, and I am positive the part of the book that is going to be deemed the most controversial, is the section discussing the integration of special needs children into the mainstream classrooms as a result of case law decisions and legislation.  Warren lists some staggering, eye-opening statistics regarding the cost and accommodations that must be made in order to adhere to the law, often at the expense of the other students’ education.  He presents one example of a large speaker system being installed in a classroom to accommodate a hearing impaired child.  The teacher wore a clip-on microphone and it was so loud that it could be heard in all of the surrounding classrooms.  Even shutting the other classroom doors could not block out the noise.  Warren informs us that although the child wore a hearing aid in other classes like gym, art, music, and out for recess, he “preferred” not to wear it in this particular class, so accommodations needed to be made.  Warren says that “impacting all of the students to comply with governmental mandates and case law decisions that pertain to only a small minority is what happens all the time.” (p.157)   

Although “It Simply Must Be Said: A View of American Public Education from the Trenches of Teaching” takes on some serious subject matter, Warren’s writing is infused with humor and many pop culture references which make for a quite enjoyable and engaging read.  He presents some wonderful ideas that we can only hope will someday be implemented in order to vastly improve the education that our children receive.