Yes, We Are Stupid in America!: A Former Principal's Reality Check on Why Our Public Schools Are Failing

When an author begins a book by thanking Fox News for teaching her how to report the truth without fear, it gives readers a pretty good sense of her political leanings. Sure enough, Wells begins this diatribe by asserting that the federal government should have no role in public education. Readers who make it past this first section will see that Wells herself concedes that many problems stem from the local level, with incompetent school boards and unqualified school leaders%E2%80%94problems that would not be addressed if the U.S. Department of Education disappeared overnight. The author uses her experience in a rural town in Georgia to illustrate the inefficiencies she encountered as a teacher and principal. Instead of genuine insight, she offers truisms%E2%80%94%E2%80%9Dstudents perform best when they receive the best possible teaching....%E2%80%9D And despite her citation of the U.S. lagging in math and science testing, she pays no attention to the challenges the country faces precisely because individual states have autonomy on how such subjects are taught.