Minimally Effective: (or the Teacher's Catch)

Download or read book Minimally Effective: (or the Teacher's Catch) written by J. Arthur Weber and published by . This book was released on 2019-07-26 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A satirical mash-up of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman, the author (a former teacher) attempts to lay bare the dystopian bureaucratic nightmare enveloping the public school system in the US in an at-times humorous and at-times poignant fashion. Niles is a idealistic new teacher entering into a system that seems made to wreck him. He meets many intriguing people along the way, but he finds that not everyone seems to have the best interests of the students in mind. "Best practice" when misapplied breaks down and becomes "worst practice" when the future is at stake. It has been called "captivating" by readers. Another said, "I didn't want to put it down." The US Secretary of Education wanted to take its funding and redirect it into vouchers for private faith-based education. The real question it poses beyond asking if we're going to allow certain people to pervert the system to advance their own selfish ends, is whether or not satire is dead in the modern age.