education-economics

One of the underlying premises of this book is that America is an ugly mess, and it is time for the federal government to step in in an enlightened way, straighten things out and make the country more like Sweden. While the book purports to deal mainly with education, the authors find it necessary to revamp the way all work is organized in the U. S., how people find jobs, health care, as well as the tax system and miscellaneous other aspects of the American experience.

The obviously well intentioned authors, one a former staffer in the Carter administration, are big believers in big government. They put forth a complex and integrated plan to revamp much of the way America works. In my opinion their macroeconomic pronouncements reveal a bias toward socialist, mercantilist economics, which causes much of their agenda to be based upon false premises, at least for application in this country. Many of the national economies the authors view with adulation are now faced with double - digit unemployment. This provides some unintended and much needed humor.

The book is at its best when it sticks to education and talks about what is going on in schools. For this analysis, and for a peek at what President Gore is likely to do about education, the book is worth a look

I deeply appreciate the marketplace viewpoints about education expressed in Marshall & Tucker's book and believe that it is an important analysis for anyone concerned with the state and direction of education today and tomorrow. Not only do the authors express their frustration with the outmoded Taylor model of classroom structure (tidy rows, teacher in front, stand and deliver--all prep for assembly line work), but also they express their concern for students to be prepared to perform in an international market.

Best of all, they spend extra time relating the influence of the Quality movement in business (TQM) and how it can and should relate to American schools in restructuring them for the 21st Century. I remain skeptical about what they say regarding the importance of standards (simply because I believe that too many teachers and community members brow beat students with high stakes testing, false incentives--A's for rewards and F's for threats, and micromanaged, ridiculous objectified norm-referenced tests), but I appreciate their call for international standards to be the only real "norm" by which we should be measuring our students.

All in all, this is an excellent study in the background motives for education, the marketplace. Imagine an education course in a major university using this book in a required reading list!

(Well, it's that good, but I hope it's not that rare.)

This is a valuable study of college sports. Zimbalist shows how much money is really lost by schools, and how foolish they are to pursue dreams of glory in college sports.

The one problem with the book is that the author, a college professor, really writes like one. It is often hard to figure out what he is talking about, but if you hang in there, when you do find out, it is usually worth it.

This book should be read by anyone working in or with college athletics as well as fans that want to understand the "business" behind the games. The author takes a view of the subject from many angles. The chapter dealing in the profit or loss of athletic departments is very enlightening particularly as it deals with the lack of accounting standard conformity.

In the last chapter the author recommends 10 steps to cure the problems. Frankly, I didn't find them compelling and generally not workable. This is a thought provoking read if you have interest in the subject but should not be purchased for entertainment purposes as it reads more like a business analysis.

Do not read this book. It's the worst sort of academic writing. I have a PhD and I know that the market is tough, but this book contains no helpful advice, no useful ideas. It's simply a collection of laments by self-absorbed academics.

This book is collection of essays by recent Ph.D.s who encountered difficulty finding a job. The writers are variously whiny, bitter, thankful, critical, realistic, depressed, resigned. This is not a book for someone seeking an optimistic portrait of the job search. Most of the writers either didn't find a job in academia, or are unhappy in the job they did find. The book underscores just how difficult it is to find a job in academia and the tremendous odds faced by the average Ph.D.

For those who are weary and sick at heart over the long, impoverishing, and brutal academic job hunt--for friends and family who are having a hard time understanding just what you are going through--for tenured faculty who need to know what is happening within their profession--this book is an important find. It reminds the frustrated academic job seeker that he or she is not alone, not a loser, and not doomed to failure. It also conveys a real sense of what the academic job search means on a personal, professional and political level; thus, even if you are not searching for a job as a professor, if you care about someone who is,or if you are already a professor who cares about what your students are experiencing on the market, you may want to read this book in order to better understand what they are going through. Oh yes, and it does INDEED contain hopeful, reflective and intelligent essays on job opportunities outside of academia.

I'm a big fan of Clark Howard and his other books and radio show. They contain oodles of great money saving info. Clark's radio show and books have saved me well over $900 this year with useful info I did not know about. However, this book was a letdown.

Most everything in this book was common knowledge or common sense. Example: Want cheap clothes, then buy them from a thrift store or discount store like TJ Maxx. Want cheap books, borrow them from the library, or buy them used on the internet. Too often the answer is buy used, or buy at a warehouse club.

I can't recommend this book unless you are a novice at saving money. You are better off saving your money and buying Clark's far superior book, "Get Clark Smart: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Rich in America", which despite its title is not a get rich quick book. That book has all sorts of useful and less known money saving ideas, and a lot of information on how to avoid getting ripped off.

I have to agree with the other reviewer. I listen to clark Howard as often as I can so I was very disappointed by this book. If you listen to the show and consider yourself relatively frugal anyways, you probably will not learn anything from this book. A lot of it seems like common sense to me.

I like Clarks show. This book is great. I didn't really think it was a good idea to take your bottled wine to a fancy restaurant to save $ but the rest was really really good!

Now, I bought this book for my degree requirement. The explanation might be long winded at some time, but the examples given are really good. It make me able to comprehend it easily. The graphics in this book is not too good as the publisher tends to use only one colour which can make reading become boring. This book can be used as a good reference as it explains steps about conducting research and how to present written report. This book can be more interesting if simple,direct explanation is used.

This is a good book for the business student or consultant that has to frequently perform research and data analysis. Several methods and concepts are outlined. The topic of "research methods and data analysis" is not the most exciting; so don't have your expectations high that it's going to be interesting reading. On the other hand, if your objective is to learn how to apply certain techniques in data analysis, research, or conducting surveys, you'll find this book helpful....
I had bought this book...(used, but in excellent condition) so it was a great buy...

One have to think on scientific research. There are lots of good books on research methodology for social sciences, engineering and other technology related sciences. But for business and management this one is the best I found. Comprehensive, logical and easy to follow. Very suitable for undergraduate students.

The book contains 50 personal statements and not much else. The personal statements were not relevant to me or my friends. I did buy this book and others. I think the best ones were Insider's guide to med school admissions by Toyos and Princeton Review. Read this one in a bookstore and you will see it is not worth it.

A great book for those interested in getting an overview of the admissions process and writing your personal statement. I really found this book helpful and resourceful. I recommend it!

Well-written, concise, and not condescending like so many of the books written by admissions department people. The 50 essays are alone worth the price.

This book was awful and not useful at all. I had assumed that it would be a "how-to" book on creative ways to save money, but live better. It only told stories of the authors' friends' selfish ways to trick people into helping them.

This book is a great idea, but it ends up as more of a joke than anything you could actually use in everyday life. It's very much geared towards wanna-be socialites in very large cities who have a lot of lovers, go to endless parties, & have little or no career aspirations or long-term goals. The authors certainly know how to live with more flash than cash, but that life is a bit shallow & ethically questionable IMO (esp. the "use your company's expense account for your own fun" tips -- not only could that get you in trouble, but how many people under 30 even *have* an expense account?). The book is an enjoyable read, breezy & funny, but don't expect much in the way of usable advice.

This book should be required reading for recent college graduates, and anyone with champagne tastes on a water budget. The voice is fabulous, funny, wry, witty, and thoroughly engaging. Some of the examples were enough to make me laugh out loud, but what's best about this read is that it's practical, too. There's real advice here on how to live the high life on a low income. I bought this book for all my friends who are graduating college, or struggling though the early years in the big city. It really made me feel better about being broke, and helped in transitioning to a grown-up life with style. Read this book, follow the author's sharp, smart advice, and live swankily ever after.

If you want to read the story of a guy who thinks it would really be nifty to do important public service work while still pulling down six figures, this is the book for you. Kahlenberg makes law students like myself who are legitimately dedicated to public interest law look like idiots. From tacky comments about distinguished lawyers he labels "sell-outs" for their choice to move to private work to the hilarious account of his (very sincere, I'm *sure*) questioning an interviewer at Arnold and Porter about whether a liberal would feel comfortable at the firm (like they're going to tell you no) the book is pretty useless. Kahlenberg wants you to think he's really upset that he just tried and tried and couldn't get a public interest job, but let's face it -- he went to Harvard Law. If he was the least bit honest at any time, the book would be worth reading. There's no way Coles read this book before agreeing to write the foreword.

This book is a compendium of irritating whinings by a naive liberal intent on saving the world. I was very much disappointed. Skip. Or borrow the book from the library.

Broken Contract is the chronicle of Richard Kahlenberg's struggle to justify his classical liberal ideals with the harsh reality of law school: most entering law students have a desire to use the privilege of an education in the law to help the poor and downtrodden of society, "but upon graduating, the vast majority [scramble] to fill the ranks of the nation's top corporate law firms" (from the front flap). Through the framework of his struggle with these powerful opposing forces, Kahlenberg presents us with a fascinating look at Harvard Law School, its culture and the nature of the law education of the late 1980s. He paints a portrait of everyday life as a law student, scrambling for Law Review positions, summer internships, judicial clerkships and ultimately, for a job after graduation.

As Kahlenberg searches for a job and dogmatically asks each interviewer about the firm's pro bono work (he is interested in little more), he occasionally comes across as an elitist; his sense of noblesse oblige is mildly nauseating. Throughout the book, Kahlenberg operates on the assumption that class-action lawsuits are morally right, that cases brought by poor people are just, that all big corporations are evil, that people have to sell-out to earn big salaries and that "conservatives" are willing to do anything to guarantee the rights of the rich.

However, don't let these relatively small negative aspects of the book deter you from reading it, even if you identify yourself as a conservative. His larger point is this: "since each of us struggles daily with good and bad impulses, we might want to restructure our social institutions in order to make it a little easier to do good" (235). This book does not target a certain ideology, except perhaps greed. Kahlenberg does not pull any punches and the targets of his criticisms span the ideological spectrum (although he does let a few more land on the right side of the spectrum).

Broken Contract rates a full four and a half stars. Broken Contract challenged me to think critically about my motivations for attending law school and broadened my perspective on life in general and on the legal community in particular.

A bunch of nonsense from "experts" who claim to be in the "business" for years, which probably means they went to ETS.ORG and read about SAT's and SAT II's and then went to a few colleges' websites to learn about admission dates and guidelines. The book is a real snoozer, empty of vividness, insight, or help. If my parent read this and then tried to relay this drivel to me I would sue for Child Abuse. Pay attention in class, go to a few websites, consult the trained help who have expertise at your school, study vocab, and leave this where it belongs: in the No Sale area in your Shopping Cart.

Too general to instruct, too bland to entertain, this soporific release from a husband and wife--or corpse and corpse--induces ennui, not edificxation. All books on the subject are more helpful: those books will have more sample test-taking strategies, will illustate more re colleges' relationship to score, and will break down exactly what a 1200 on a SAT means: the number wrong, the weaknesses inherent in such a score, the levels of Un iversities that will either laugh or accept. There should be something on the new SAT's (in 18 months) and the supposed racism that is built inside these questions. A history of ETSA, an overview of ACT's, and any reference to the MANY contreoversies that thse tests evoke would also flesh this slim and stupid volume out. This book would fit comfortably at the bottom of a parrot's cage, but be warned: animal may lkaern to speak like a smug lawyer who never had one original thought.

I bought this book as a jumior in High School and now that I am a college freshman I think that I can honestly say that the book did not help at all. Much better info was to be had at College Board's website and in the Barron's series. The book is boring and unhelpful concerning types of tests, dates of tests, and strategies taking the tests. It seems like a rush job, and a waste of money. Better you save 20 bucks and buy 10 real SAT's and simply take the practice exams. In this book the advice is so general and so banal that you will sleep your way--something thre authors seemed to do--after the first five pages. Go somewhere else and and pwork your way through the problems. The self help section at stores is so filled with this type of garbage that I expoect to see a book soon called Self Help Writers in Need of Self Help.

This book provides six full-length practice exams. Unfortunatelly after going over them with my daughter I have discoverd that the questions do not realistically represent the coverage and the level of dificulty of recent AP tests. Even worse the book if full of errors, omissions, and logical flaws, in questions themself and in the provided explanations (and I know what I am talking about since I teach chemistry in college).

At first glance, REA looks like the best choice in AP Chemistry- after all, it has 6 practice tests. But most of the sample questions don't reflect how the real test is like. You don't find complex logarithms on an AP Chem test, and ETS won't be nice enough to ask you which elements are considered Alkali Earth Metals. Avoid this book! It costs more than most other AP Chem tests. Instead, try the comprehensive Princeton Review AP Chemistry. REA may be good at covering AP history topics, but when it comes to science, try another brand.

Much depends on how you are utilizing this text. I used it to
assist in studying for the Fundamentals of Engineering
Examination. The text has a good coverage of the periodic
table of elements, emphasis on the halogens, oxidation-
reduction, Boyle's Law, the atomic radii,pH, solutions,
precipitates,exothermic and endothermic reactions, the anode
and cathode, amphoteric substances, lattice points and a variety
of problem sets. Overall, the text is very helpful for studying
the Fundamentals of Engineering Examinations. I would supplement
this with a formal engineering review course and a reasonably
comprehensive text on organic chemistry. A strength of this text
is that it provides many practical examples. It is highly
abbreviated in form. I would utilize the contents to practice
a variety of problems customarily found on collegiate-level
examinations. The author has a detailed explanation of the
preferred solution set. I encountered several problems with

alternate solutions; however, this is a minor aspect.
The thrust of the text is good for preparing students in
applied chemistry.