Nova Scotia's public schools and their students have faced dramatic conflict and drastic change over the past 25 years. While critics charge that schools are failing kids, teachers have been under attack from think tanks and politicians. Parents and citizens have seen power centralized after democratically-elected school boards were abolished. Grant Frost offers an insider's account of these tumultuous years and offers an explanation for the turmoil. Behind the conflict he discovers right-wing think tanks that relentlessly seek to discredit public education and teachers while pushing for changes that would benefit corporations who want willing workers. The think tanks are also promoters of the charter school movement that continues to gain ground in the US and that is promoted as a better option than public schools. Whether it's Nova Scotia's own right-wing think tank or local journalists who readily adopt the cry that our schools are failing, Grant Frost traces the path that he finds has threatened the quality of schooling in Nova Scotia. He sets out the steps for parents, teachers and other citizens to ensure that public education is championed and protected in Nova Scotia.