Carol Ascher writes fiction, memoirs, personal essays, scholarly articles and book reviews. Her fiction and nonfiction often explore the themes of prejudice and inequality. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she has spent much of her professional life writing about urban public schools. read more

Hard Lessons

The Twentieth Century Fund Press
1996
ISBN 0-87078-399-8

Full Summary:

A hard look at the popular belief that markets invariably produce better results than do governmental entities, Hard Lessons assesses the effects of educational privatization in three key areas: performance contracting; the takeover of districts by private corporations; and charter schools. The authors conclude that privatization is unlikely to save public schools money or to increase accountability, and that will likely decrease educational resources available to poor students and increase inequality.