Review of "A Graver Danger: White Chalk Crime" by Karen Horwitz, M.Ed.

Score: 85+/100 (8.5+ out of 10)

A Graver Danger: White Chalk Crime is an impassioned, incendiary diatribe targeted at the American education system, Donald J. Trump and the multitude of factors that got him elected, and on what the author calls "White Chalk Crime" (often abbreviated as "WCCrime").

We have to be upfront and honest: we didn't particular enjoy this book. We actually found it be very bitter and unpleasant. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that YOU won't enjoy this book. Maybe it will resonate with you more than it did with us. We also wanted to say that we actually agree with some of the premises and arguments in this book. For example, we absolutely agree that the American education system is flawed and in need of serious, major reform from the top down.

Reading, writing, and overall literacy scores continue to drop. On NAEP, 2022 reading scores fell 3 points from 2019 in both 4th and 8th grade, reaching their lowest levels since 2005 (grade 4) and 1998 (grade 8), clear evidence of declining literacy.

On NAEP, math fell 5 points (grade 4) and 8 points (grade 8) from 2019 to 2022, with 8th-grade math still 8 points lower in 2024. 8th-grade science fell 4 points from 2019 to 2024.

Attendance is also plunging. Roughly 28% of students were chronically absent from 2022-2023. Schools are understaffed. Entering 2024-25, 74% of public schools reported difficulty filling at least one teaching vacancy. Facilities are aging and/or unhealthy in some district with many reporting HVAC and other infrastructure issues (a GAO national survey found 54% of districts need to update or replace multiple building systems; around 41% need HVAC upgrades in at least half their schools (around 36,000 schools), conditions that hinder learning and safety.

We've personally had very negative experiences inside and outside of the education system both as teachers and students. It's true: good, caring, innovative, creative teachers are being terminated, unhired, or unpromoted in favor of obedient yes-men who just do what the higher-ups want—no more, no less. This is something that we ABSOLUTELY AGREE with the author on.

But here's the thing... how is that any different from any other field? In what field do the bosses resist the temptation to hire who they like? In what field do they not hire (or fire) who they dislike? That's just a part of human nature.

Anyway... we also agree that the education system is being hollowed out, becoming a lot more soulless. Let's face it... a lot of underqualified morons are getting degrees and high scores these days. How? Well, cheating has always been a thing. In the old days, students could glimpse at someone else's paper, strongarm a smart friend into coughing up the answers, or just pay someone to do an assignment. Now they've got these seemingly innocuous websites/services like Chegg and Quizlet that pretty much have everyone's answers to old tests, quizzes, and exams. Oh, and the big one: now there's AI/LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Notebook LLM that are just a cheater's dream. (By the way, there is a section of this book that talks about AI and other sections that discuss the new problems the Internet in general caused).

Like, a lot of these degrees and honors these days aren't even earned, they're literally manufactured (FAKE). It's like Gaddafi or Idi Amin just putting a new honor badge or medal on their uniform without ever having earned it. The rich and powerful can do that, apparently.

And you know who suffers the most? Good people. Caring people. Hard working people. People like us who actually read, write, and do our own work. People who've actually done the work, made the effort, and EARNED the degrees. Yeah, we're the ones who get left behind. We're the ones who get passed over for promotions. We're the ones who get terminated or have our entry passes silently revoked. And who gets the jobs? The people who cheated to get their PhDs and master's degrees. The sychophants who kissed enough butts (or the right butts) to get to the top. The people who anchor themselves to do just what the arbitrary curriculum, standards, and rules say—no more, no less.

Yeah, we totally get that!
And we agree with the author on those points.

The problem is that the narrative of this book is severely hampered and bogged down by the author's fixation on things that seem loosely to do with education, namely Donald Trump and conservatives.

It often seems like this book is more fixated on ranting and complaining about Donald Trump than actually discussing education and its issues.

We did a CTRL+F search of the book on Adobe Acrobat and found that "Trump" was mentioned 207 times in this book! TWO-HUNDRED AND SEVEN times! Let's compare that to some other things the book could've discussed. "Reading" is mentioned 74 times. "Science" is mentioned 65 times. "Writing" is mentioned 35 times. "Math" is mentioned 15 times. "Creative" & "creativity" are mentioned 12 times. "Art" is only mentioned 11 times.

That really goes to show how overly fixated this book is on Trump.

Love him or hate him, why do we have to keep reading about him in a book that's supposed to be about education?

And you know all those statistics we discussed earlier in this review about the plummeting scores and school attendance? Those aren't from the book, they're actually from our own independent research because this book would rather rant and rave about the author's opinions and ill feelings than just stick to facts and evidence. It really comes across as anectdotal (based on personal feelings, experiences, and emotions) rather than being the data-driven, evidence-based work that it could have been. It's the weakest form of argumentation and rhetoric. That's why we describe this book as a "diatribe."

If the author had just stuck to facts and evidence rather than resorting to emotional, tangential rants, this book would've been better for it. Instead, we get really petulant, immature name-calling and hyperbole like:

- Likening Trump to orange juice because he's infamously orange-skinned (" I didn’t imagine that Trump would come along and I could make lemonade out of him. I know. Excuse me. With him, it has to be orangeade.")

- Calling Trump a "Soul Cannibal"

- Saying that people are "psychological rapists"

- Saying that Trump is the devil/Satan and comparing him to Hitler constantly ("I didn’t use to believe in the devil until Trump. It now seems like a maybe. Perhaps if I had lived in Germany during Hitler and watched that madman take over my country, I might have... How can he not be the devil?")

- Repeatedly calling Trump a "con man"

- Compares being written-up at work as being like a "firing squad" that's ready to shoot at you given the order

- Calling corrupt school officials "EducRAT$"--which is something that Trump would probably do, ironically

- Repeatedly calling Trump a "rapist"/"convicted rapist" which is actually not legally true, and is why ABC News had to pay a $15 million settlement and issued a correction after George Stephanopoulos wrongly said a jury had found Trump liable for rape (the civil verdict was for sexual abuse, not rape).

- The following passage: "...they’re agreeing to hand over
our democracy to one man, Hitler-style. They’re so irate and so
convinced both political parties are corrupt that they’re ignoring
the following unsigned poem aimlessly wandering on the internet,
filled with undeniable wisdom:

It’s so simple. I don’t know why people don’t get it.
A man with a pattern of cheating his customers, vendors, and
business partners is going to cheat you.
A man who’s casually betrayed his wives,
Again and again, will casually betray you.
A man who lies all the time is lying to you.
A man who has spent his entire life screwing people
is going to do the exact same thing to you."

Everything just seems so hyperbolic, over-the-top, and melodramatic. For example:

- Designating people, whom the author's group deems problematic, as "real 'Satans'"

- Constantly talking about "evil" and how the things that people do are "evil" or that the system is "evil" or that certain administrators are "evil"

- Constantly saying how the school administrators and the officials who allegedly enable them are like "mafia", "gangsters", or "criminals"

Can we just name and describe the specific misdeeds/corrupt things that these people allegedly did instead of just throwing labels on them?

It often seems that everyone is to blame who doesn't exactly tow the line that the author wants them to tow. Trump is to blame. The system is to blame. The conservatives are to blame. The school admins are to blame. The celebrities who ignored the author's letters or book are to blame. The journalist/reporter is to blame ("Yet, the reporter did nothing more. She was too sure I was the problem"). The psychiatrist is to blame ("conniving psychiatrist"). The judge is to blame ("I enjoyed watching the judge squirm as he labeled it out of his jurisdiction"). Multiple attorneys are to blame. 

It just seems very finger-pointy. As written, it doesn't come across well in our opinion.

This is supposed to be about education, but it just doesn't read like it.

The way that this book is written really sounds more like someone who is disgruntled, vengeful, and is taking out their anger and frustration on the institution(s) and people who are presumed to be at fault. It really sounds like ranting and raving most of the time. It reads like relentless, redundant steamrolling with the same things repeating over and over again (mostly about Trump and democracy dying) as opposed to actual factual evidence.

Think about the non-fiction books this book is competing against:

Kings of Stone by R Jay Driskill, which is heavily evidence-based and research-based, sticking to facts in educating readers about the Hittites.

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence in Special Education by Ange Anderson, which is heavily evidence-based and research-based, sticking to facts in educating readers about emerging technologies in education.

In contrast, A Graver Danger, which you can tell was written before the November 2024 president election, reads more like a desperate attempt to stop Trump from being reelected rather than an attempt to fix our education system and, as the author continuously mentions, stop school shootings.

We're still confused and baffled as to how this was supposed to stop school shootings. From what we gathered, stopping the administrative bullying and "teacher abuse" was supposed to improve the school environment, making school shootings less prevalent... because...? Because there's a cycle of bullying from the top-down and all around that causes students to eventually become school shooters? Because reality-TV makes impressionable students want to be on TV for the notoriety of being a shooter? Because kids are taught to not think critically? We're confused. And it's not our fault. We read the whole book. We read it from beginning to end.  So much of the core message gets muddled by the loosely-relevant pseudo-apocalyptic political ranting.

It doesn't help that a lot of the writing in this book comes across as really self-righteous, pretentious, and condescending. For example:

- "Since I’ve scientifically proven the ineffectiveness of parents influencing their children, I’m saying learned it from a teacher!" (Emphasis added)

- "Indeed, my teaching excellence is a fact that none dispute."

- "...a person like me, a kid whisperer..."

- "No one else has put this million-piece puzzle together yet, and that task force will spin more wheels due to the black hole of ignorance."
(Again inflating one's intelligence and abilities while disparaging the intelligence and abilities of others)

- "Think about the children who would still be alive had that book gone viral"
(Ok, this statement... probably came from a place of compassion and care, but it's offensive to us. It actually hurts to read. This is one of those statements in a book that hurts the message of the book rather than helping it. It is literally saying that a book going viral would've stopped school shootings. Could you imagine actually being a victim of one of these shootings? To now read an author say that we should've read their book and our loved one(s) would still be alive?)

- "Remember, I outwitted the rocket scientists in my advanced high school chemistry class?"

- "Our schools engineered too many ignorant, gullible people."
(Insults peoples' intelligence, particularly those who don't agree or vote the wrong way)

- "...it’s better to think Karen Horwitz can’t be right, as no one wants an ounce of that guilt."
(Writes in third-person in a passive-aggressive manner)

- "Those of us with working brains and an ability to dodge manipulative guilt would see being shamed for endorsing a candidate who is a rapist who intends to end our democracy as a good thing."
(Implying that only people who vote a certain way have working brains/intelligence)

- "Stupidity is more contagious than COVID-19"
(Again, calling people who disagree or don't tow the line stupid)

It's so agitating and frustrating to read things like this—passages that put people down while pumping the author up. It shouldn't be that way.

And the key argument that conservatives are the cause of our education system failing and Trump getting elected is actually not very strong. According to NORC, 71% of college administrators identified as liberal (read it here: 
https://www.norc.org/research/projects/administrators-views-on-campus-life-diversity-and-politics.html).

According to Pew Research, 58% of K-12 teachers identify with or lean Democrat compared to only 35% who identify as Republican (read it here: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/teachers-views-on-the-state-of-public-k-12-education/).

So, the evidence for that whole argument doesn't add up.

But not everything about this book is negative. Like we said, we agree with some of the premise. Also, some of the passages are eloquent and even beautiful. The author makes great use of metaphors, similes, and analogies. For examples:
​
- "...education is no longer braided with democracy"

- "These documents, you can see for yourself in this book, remain like landmines that have held danger for years."

- "... our universities have locked education in a closet, hoping it won’t scream."

- "Education is the vaccine of violence."

- "Fraud must surface. It’s like a painful pimple on one’s face that needs to pop to find peace."

These are actually really good. In fact, some of these are great.

Also, we do get some sections that actually focus on the problems and solutions like "Visions for Visionary Schools." It's just unfortunate that this is relegated to so late in the book after we've already been bombarded and inundated with ranting.

Anyway, this book may speak to some people.

Check it out on Amazon!