The Education Of John Merrow Summary

“The Education of Michelle Rhee,” is a documentary shown on PBS Frontline. John Merrow is a correspondent of Frontline and he was given permission to follow Michele Rhee on her journey to reforming the public-school system in Washington D.C. While watching the video it is easy to see that Rhee was very passionate in her pursuit to create a better public-school system for the children in Washington D.C. Rhee implemented mandatory standardized tests for the school system and fired every principal, teacher and worker she felt was not doing an appropriate job. Although the tests scores in many school districts greatly increased, there was speculation that the tests had been tampered with by school districts that were eager to receive bonuses. Ultimately, Rhee became the bad guy in the situation and many parents and teachers turned against her which caused her journey to come to an end. Despite only having a few years in office, she felt like she had accomplished a lot and she plans
While the book acknowledges how the home life of rich and poor children effects how well they do in school, the documentary adds that the troubles the children face at home also contributes to how well they do in school. Rhee believes that no matter the home life of the students, it is the responsibility of the teachers and principles to help the children succeed in school. The issues that were exposed in the documentary shed some light on why the United States might be ranking twenty-third in reading, twenty-seventh in science and thirty-fifth in math. Rhee also knew that it was extremely important to find good teachers while she had the authority to do so and she fired hundreds and quickly replaced them. The book states how important it is to find qualified teachers and Rhee went to great lengths to ensure she found the necessary