This book provides alternative answers to those questions about the American educational system that have been answered until now by an outmoded, conservative educational agenda. Following the introduction that describes the rationale for a postmodern deconstruction of educational narratives, 13 chapters present essays on the following questions: (1) What are the basics and are we teaching them? (2) Who decides the form schools have taken and who should decide? (3) Is it true that teachers are not as good as they used to be? (4) Do students misbehave more than they used to? (5) What good is teaching and how do we teach people to be good teachers? (6) Should the fact that we live in a democratic society make a difference in what our schools are like? (7) In what ways does gender affect the educational process? (8) In what ways does race affect the educational process? (9) In what ways does class affect the educational process? (10) What role should religion play in the public schools? (11) What have been the effects of the attempts to improve education over the last decade? (12) What's missing in the public conversation about education? and (13) What are schools for and what should we be doing in the name of education? References accompany each chapter. (LMI)