Reviews
Our readers have found immense value in New Era – New Urgency. Below, you can learn more about what our audience has to say.
Richard Cantor
"New Era – New Urgency is for education what Howard Zinn's book A People's History of the United States was for history."
Corporate CEO, Board Certified Security Professional and NYS Licensed Training Instructor
Katy Friedland
"As an educator, I found this book to be incredibly insightful. Understanding the foundation of our varied American educational system is key to seeing the path forward. I highly recommend this book!"
Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy
Cameron Page
"The only negative thing I can say about this book is that it was published after the 18 years I served on my local school board. It would have made a profound difference in how I understood and challenged the never-ending parade of Federal, State, and local education reform initiatives into which we poured our time and money. To put it simply, this book should be considered the definitive handbook about the purposes of education throughout history, who should drive educational decisions, and how to connect curriculum to purpose in a way that inspires student interest in the chief concerns of our time. Merlino and Pomeroy explain the link between new eras of profound social, demographic and technical change which drive new fundamental purposes for education. Clearly, we are in such a time today! Unlike other books on these topics, this one has solutions and real world experience and data that supports them. This beautifully written and compelling book is a must read."
Former School Board Chair
Charles Coble, Ph.D.
“As this important read documents, American education, from its formative colonial days, through its agricultural and industrial revolutions to its emergence as a powerful empire, has been guided by the forces of the times to serve the perceived needs of an evolving nation. Today’s explosion of knowledge, technological innovations, environmental challenges, and the social upheaval they are begetting has rendered the prevailing model for ‘schooling’ in America unsuited to the times. Policymakers, Educators, and the public would do well to understand and work to implement a new purpose-driven education described by the authors in New Era-New Purpose. What they describe here is not theoretical, they have developed and ‘test-driven’ this new vision for education in schools with students and teachers. An important contribution of this book is to understand more fully the changing purposes of American education in a nation lurching, painfully at times, toward “a more perfect union.”
Former Dean of the School of Education, East Carolina University, and the former Vice President for the 17-campus University of North Carolina System
James Hamos, Pd.D.
"What a fascinating read and a thoughtful recommendation for education in the United States and beyond… ensuring that education has a locally-driven purpose for all participants, especially students, teachers, administrators and parents. Authors Merlino and Pomeroy recount centuries of changed purposes in American education as well as issues that have bedeviled, and continue to weaken, educational success for many. Out of this history, the authors – active supporters of education here and abroad – come to a notable success in a foreign context and lead us to the possibilities that readers might take as their own."
Former Senior Advisor to the Director, National Science Foundation
Jo Boaler, Ph.D.
“This is an incredible book that shares the important work of transforming school systems to empower students with critical thinking. I learned a great deal about history, culture, and educational change.”
Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education (Mathematics), Stanford University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in Great Britain
Gary A. Laursen, Ph.D.
“United in an effort steeped in academic practice and research methodologies, authors F. Joseph Merlino and Deborah Pomeroy untangle the decades-long conundrum of deciphering what education is today, from whence it historically came, and how it should be adjusted to accommodate myriad social iterations and the constantly changing needs of its recipients. In working with international teaching professionals, interacting with thousands of students, testing, and retesting over an extended time frame, they dissect old standards and have reconstructed a vision of education for the new era, all the while recognizing the urgency that have perplexed so many for decades. New Era – New Urgency is a read that not only belongs on the bookshelves of every reforming educator, but one that presents ideas that set the bar significantly high to incite and direct future outcomes for needed change.”
Director & President, High Latitude Mycological Research Institute Affiliate Professor of Biology, Universities of Alaska and of Montana
Preston D. Feden, Ed.D.
“In New Era – New Urgency, F. Joseph Merlino and Deborah Pomeroy share their expansive understanding of the foundations of American education and their experience with creating educational programs for 21st Century teachers and learners. This book is logically organized and beautifully written. It takes the reader through the earliest years of American education and the various purposes of education as they evolved. The authors go on to identify ways in which those purposes have been corrupted, with interesting sections on the roles that wealth distribution and religion, among others, played out to bring about this corruption. Merlino and Pomeroy describe, in depth, their experiences in working with Egypt, Bosnia, and American schools, focused on STEM curriculum. This book makes a compelling case for changes that need to be made in America’s education system and is a must read for education professionals who wish to eschew traditional methods of teaching that continue to pervade American schools.”
Professor Emeritus Department of Education, La Salle University
John R. Mainka and Janice Martin
"This book should be read by every educator, legislator, and parent who has influence on the educational system in America. It is a cogent, comprehensive argument for change based on the history of education in this country. Better yet, it offers evidence- based positive results of a new approach to effectively produce that required change."
Amazon Reviewers
Joanne Perry
"From the perspective of a parent and grandparent, I found New Era - New Urgency interesting as well as eye-opening. The authors present their case for repurposing education in a logical and common-sense manner."
Parent
Richard Lyntton
"I was truly blown away by this book…I’m not an academic and I don’t pretend to be, but I feel that this book, even though it’s an academic book, should be in every parent’s library. It should be in your school library - high school or university library."
Host: Author Hour with Richard Lyntton
Kim Burns
"I found (this book) completely mesmerizing. … I think everybody should try to read this book.” “It’s beautifully written.” “An amazing book … (which) helps us learn how to talk (about educational issues)."
Host: “What’s the Story,” Rye Record Podcast
Joan Colen
"A brilliant, comprehensive History of American education. A must-read for everyone who strives to be an effective and empathetic educator in this problematic age."
Educator
Katy Friedland
"As an educator, I found this book to be incredibly insightful. Understanding the foundation of our varied American educational system is key to seeing the path forward. I highly recommend this book!"
Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management · Springside Chestnut Hill Academy
Drumm McNaughton, Ph.D.
"These lessons are going to apply to how we structure our colleges and universities today."
Host – Changing Higher Education
Justin Baeder, Ph.D.
"This book is both deeply researched and will be quite Impressive to anyone in academia but also very readable for anyone interested in education or anyone involved in education as a practitioner."
Director of The Principal Center
Gary C. Woodward, Ph.D.
"Merlino and Pomeroy’s panoramic view of what public education should aspire to achieve is timely and provocative. The core issue of what we teach our children is ultimately tied up with the bigger question of what kind of society we want."
Professor of Rhetorical Theory, (Retired) The College of New Jersey
Dorothy Armstrong, Ph.D.
"This book models the best of educational practice in its presentation and recommendations for meaningful educational change which the authors ground in a comprehensive review of the history of the field."
Professor of Teaching and Learning, Emerita, Grand Valley State University
Peter Kinzler
"The book is not another dry academic text to put on one’s shelves to draw dust. On the contrary, it is written in language that is accessible to all readers. It is a book that everyone concerned about how to prepare students for the challenges of today’s world can and should read."
Retired staff director and counsel for subcommittees relating to public policy for the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Prentiss Pemberton
“The book is genius in how it’s structured, the information it presents and the stories it tells. … I enjoyed learning especially about how education and society have such an effect on each other … It doesn’t feel like a textbook but is extensively researched.”
Host: Line One, Alaska Public Media
Michael G. Kozak, Ed.D.
In New Era - New Urgency: The Case for Repurposing Education, Merlino and Pomeroy present a thought-provoking and urgent case for reimagining education systems to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing 21st-century world. Grounded in the realities of technological advancements, global interconnectedness, and shifting workforce needs, the book challenges educators, policymakers, and leaders to move beyond outdated industrial-era models of education. The authors make a compelling argument that these traditional systems are no longer sufficient to prepare students for the social, economic, and environmental complexities of our time.
Assistant Clinical Professor, Drexel University School of Education
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