I Got Schooled: The Five Keys to Closing America’s Education Gap

This is a book about the state of American education, written by a famous movie director. As he tells it, when he went location scouting for one of his movies, he visited several high schools, and was shocked by the disparities. What followed a couple of years of research, and the result is this book.

To be clear, the book is very entertaining. He writes really well, and tells a great story (naturally).

Additionally, I have no reason to believe that he’s wrong about any of this. Here are his “five keys”:

1. No Roadblock Teachers (fire bad teachers)
2. The Right Balance of Leadership (we need better principals…?)
3. Feedback (principals should coach, not just manage)
4. Smaller Schools
5. More Time in School

As you can see, this is not risky advice. I was expecting something Earth-shaking, but all of this is pretty obvious.

Again, he writes well. And I appreciated his emphasis on critical thinking and statistics. But I just don’t subscribe to the idea that the guy behind a bunch of thriller movies somehow has magically cracked the riddle of education in this country.

The book is worth reading, if you’re interested the subject. But don’t expect a revolution. It’s an outsider’s opinion that is weirdly very…insider.