Kelly Gallagher's 'Write Like This'

Kelly Gallagher states very clearly the dirty little secret of schools in America in chapter 1 of his 2011 book, Write Like This. He declares, “In other words, seven out of ten students are leaving schools without the necessary skills to actively participate in either civic life or in the global economy” (Wiens). These startling statistics should disturb you, and, if nothing is done, there’s only room for future generations’ stats to get worse. If you’re a parent put in the position of telling your teenager exactly why they should spend a whole thirteen years of their life getting an education when they’ve already learned, how to read, write, and do simple math, basic skills, and they throw this statistic at you, what do you do? My father