Failed System

As students returned from the Coronavirus crisis, the critical question became “What grade are they in?” Were they passed with their age group without actually learning? Were they retained, allowing the school-to-prison pipeline process to begin? Or did they sit in summer school while politicians pretended they were catching up? The lessons from the pandemic were clear. Not only does the system not work for them anymore, the system has not worked for Black and Brown students—as well as White students in Appalachia—for the last 200 years.In addition to structural changes, the reality is that high stakes standardized testing drives the curriculum into a narrow scope of education when the need is to educate children beyond the classroom into the world of today. A Failed System: Pandemic-Related Solutions to a 200-Year-Old Education Crisis presents solutions designed to develop a system of education that places all children on an even playing field. The current system has no solutions to the structural problem and shows no interest in taking students beyond the big test. It is time to replace education’s failed system—students must be prepared to think!

Having taught under this philosophy and now as a school board member, this book nails it! Cap Lee has said out loud what many of us have been thinking. More importantly, he offers common sense solutions to the problems that have plagued educators for many years. If you are an educator or are connected to education in any way, then this book is a must read., Music was the glue that held everything else in my academic life together. I was unchallenged and thus uninterested in the traditional subjects but music gave me life and purpose. In this book, Cap Lee describes how to connect with all students in a manner unique to their interests., In his new book, A Failed System: Pandemic-Related Solutions to a 200-Year-Old Education Crisis, Cap Lee shares a plethora of information and solutions for creating integrous, equitable, and authentic learning for students in our public schools. Thank you, Cap Lee.

Eldon “Cap” Lee graduated from Eastern Michigan University and has been an advocate for fairness and equity in a dysfunctional system of education. As a teacher and administrator in Milwaukee Public Schools, his curiosity led to his developing an innovative school, The Milwaukee Village School. Realizing that the current system of education does not allow for innovation, he now advocates for the replacing of education’s failed system.