Race to the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education

In this deeply researched book, the bestselling author of Obstruction of Justice turns his investigative talents to America’s education system, uncovering the reason it is crumbling: vast amounts of cash spent to promote trendy political goals instead of measurable academic standards of success.

Everyone agrees that we should graduate as many students as possible, as prepared for colleges and jobs as possible. We all want improved STEM and computer literacy. We’re united in our belief that the academic achievement of inner-city children should be raised. But there are billions of dollars spent every year that actually work against those goals. Why?

In Race to the Bottom, Luke Rosiak follows the money and his results are shocking. Special interest groups have turned the K-12 schools in our backyard into their playthings, using our children as a means to various self-interested ends – few of which have to do with making our children smarter. Nonprofits pump billions into initiatives meant to redress racial inequities that actually allow school districts to ignore academic progress—ultimately hurting minority students and perpetuating racism. Instead of fixing the problem, districts with a big gap between white and black test scores have hired consultants who claim the tests are meaningless because they are racist. Rather than investing in students, schools have abandoned honors classes and high standards, settling for mediocrity instead of striving for excellence. 

Rosiak blames “woke culture,” claiming it has taken over America’s educational bureaucracy. Emphasizing identity rather than shared values and demanding artificially forced equal outcomes, or “equity,” rather than equal opportunity and progress, today’s educators are undermining democracy and sacrificing our children’s futures. He takes on teachers’ unions, pandemic closures, diversity consultants, critical race theory, philanthropic foundations, educators’ manipulation of performance statistics, failing academic standards, and other forces that are impacting public education and undermining it. 

Race to the Bottom is the first comprehensive exposé of the way “woke” ideology and self-serving administrators are destroying academic quality in America’s K-12 schools and hurting kids.