Retired Ohio Educator Myrna Sanner Publishes Case for Classical Education in New Book

Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk

Myrna Sanner, an educator with more than four decades of classroom experience, has released "Pushing the Education Reset Button: Acquiring Knowledge and Building Character," published through Covenant Books.

The book argues that federal involvement in schools, teachers’ unions, university-level teacher training, and heavy classroom use of technology have weakened American education, according to the announcement. Sanner’s proposed remedy is a return to what she calls holistic, classical education, which the book positions as a way to rebuild academic rigor, improve attendance and test scores, and strengthen student character and behavior.

According to a synopsis of the book, Sanner frames her argument around a set of figures and concerns: national data showing roughly 31 percent of fourth-graders proficient in reading, and U.S. student rankings of 38th in math and 24th in science compared with other countries internationally. The book also raises concerns about ideological content in schools and what Sanner describes as a decline in shared values such as respect, responsibility and hard work, which she argues classical education historically reinforced.

Sanner’s background spans more than thirty classrooms over her career, work helping launch early Head Start programs, a teaching stint at the American School in Japan, and service on multiple curriculum development committees, the announcement states. She was on staff at an Ohio elementary school when it was named Ohio School of the Year, holds advanced degrees in education and counseling, and has completed Professional Teachers Certification. She has also mentored more than fifty teachers, according to the release.

"My diverse experience in education, as a teacher and mother, has convinced me that returning to the fundamental principles of holistic, classical education presents our most promising opportunity to rebuild academic excellence and strengthen the character of our students," Sanner said in a statement accompanying the release.

The book arrives as the publisher notes the United States marking the 250th anniversary of its founding this year, a framing Sanner invokes directly, tying her argument for classical education to the country’s founding-era emphasis on education as, in her words, a safeguard for a free and unified society.

"Pushing the Education Reset Button" is available through Covenant Books’ website, as well as major retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play and the Apple iTunes Store.

Studio CarryOnHarry will be watching whether Sanner’s classical-education argument gets traction beyond the book itself, given how contested the debate over curriculum and teacher training has become in American schools.

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