Dr. Lancer uses an old folk tale "The Old Woman and Her Pig" as a metaphor for telling the numerous things that go wrong in the education system. The old woman (teachers) cannot get the Piggy (students) over the stile (the curriculum)t and so, "We shan't Get Home Tonight" is the book title. She explains the deficits in people and organisations in education, starting with kids, teachers, principals, and on up through the ranks and ending with U.S. Dept. of Education. All of the characters in the education system are likened to characters and entities in the old folk tale. She gives what would have been a solution to our problems by having more involvement in the system and then gives an ending telling of the societal changes that make the simpler "more involvement" invalid. We have a very complicated problem involving: immigration, over concern with tests, political correctness, gender problems, etc. that are new to education.