Today, many public schools, especially rural and inner-city areas, are so fraught with violence, so impersonal, and so poorly funded that they drive students away rather than inspire them to learn. Most people do not realize that the school system they knew when they were growing up is now in the process of being supplanted with alternative approaches to education. Nor do they understand the grave consequences for their children who face the demise of America's one system of public education for all. Author Elaine Johnson examines the state of education in the twenty-first century using science, rather than business as a more reliable and positive guide for education. The application of scientific principles of interrelatedness, self-organization, and differentiation to leadership and teaching, transforms schools into places that improve school performance. Chapters describe practical approaches to teaching math, science, and foreign languages. The Dismantling of Public Education analyzes: The influence on education of the business model calling for growth, Competition, Measurable targets, Accountability. This book also discusses the effects on young people of immense high schools, charter schools, and statewide standardized achievement tests.