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Bob Herbert Believes America Social, Economic Political Essay

Bob Herbert believes America social, economic political issues require discussion change. Select issues Herbert discusses, essay 500 words, explain issue discuss agree diagree Herbert America handle issue. In his essay "A Fire in the Basement," Bob Herbert talks about his frustrations with the state of the country today. He illuminates particularly that "public schools [are] swarming with students but starved of books and supplies" (qtd. In Graff, Birkenstein, and Durst 396). Herbert's assertion that public education in America is in trouble is correct: The resources are too taxed, the school systems too apathetic, and the students lack motivation. The best way to solve this problem is to take a closer look at how schooling is structured and make drastic reforms both on a commercial and philosophical level.

As it stands now, public education, with all of its downfalls, is still prized by Americans. In a 1999 poll, "more than 70% of those queried…favor improving the public schools over seeking an alternative system" (Rose 1999). There is still potential for...

People must stop looking to private schools, charter schools, and school vouchers to provide answers and work to solve the larger systemic problems and lack of innovation that schooling in America faces now.
In an article about the relationship between education and business, Michael J. Manafo, a private school administrator, offers suggestions about how to incorporate marketing techniques used in the private sector to make schools more effective. Several of these methods are grassroots and could be completed by parents, faculty, or the students themselves, like, "create a dynamic school website" and "publish a multipurpose view book" (Manafo 2006). He also mentions larger scale projects related directly to fundraising. His ideas are sound in that communities must not look to the government alone for help in making their schools better. If major gift drives are enacted, a "strong alumni base" is cultivated, and schools move beyond "event fund-raising into institutional advancement," perhaps public schools…

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Works Cited

Freeman, Robert. "Competing Models for Public Education: Which Model Is

Best?" Our Schools, Our Selves Summer 2005: 38. Questia. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel K. Durst. "They Say/I Say": The

Moves that Matter in Academic Writing: with Readings. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009.
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