This is my column for publication in The Wave this Friday. But since today is publication date of Diane Ravitch's new book I'm posting it to join with bloggers all over the nation who are part of the Ravitch support network. This is not a complete review. There are so many great bloggers out there who will do a better job than I can. (See Afterburn for links to some of the reviews out today.)
The book will go way beyond the choir. What is happening is that people who were ed deform supporters are becoming aware of the implications and the Ravitch book will nudge them over to the real reform camp. There are still gaps in her narrative which I will cover in follow-up posts.
Diane's book needs more than a review but a chapter by chapter analysis (which Gary Rubinstein touches on). So I intend to do a series of posts on the book -- and the thoughts it has provoked. I have notes. Lots and lots of notes. I only hope I can manage to read my own handwriting.
Reign of Error: What’s
Wrong With Preaching to the Choir?
By Norm Scott
When it comes to the education wars I’m often accused of
preaching to the choir – that my rhetoric will convince no one who doesn’t
already agree with me. I’m fine with that. No matter what I say I won’t
convince the other side and people in the middle will come to their own
conclusions when the flames of education deform touch them personally. Many
teachers in NYC have not been touched yet but are about to with a new teacher
evaluation system hitting schools this year. So I expect the choir to grow. My
goal is to activate the choir and share information they can find useful.
I’ve been reading the just released book,
“Reign of Error: TheHoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools”by educational historian Diane Ravitch who has also been accused of preaching to
the choir. Ravitch covers a lot of ground, using lots of charts and graphs to
show how the claims by education deformers (Ravitch refers to them as “corporate
reformers”) that our nation’s schools are in crisis and are failing and
declining compared to other nations is not only not true but part of a design
by people tied into the educational-industrial complex to get their mitts on a
large chunk of the billions spent on education in this country.
At the heart of the education wars between deformers and
real reformers is the role poverty plays in the education equation. Deformers
claim we can fix poverty by changing the schools. Real reformers claim we must
do both: attack poverty and fix schools that are deemed not to be working, not
by merely closing them, which is the key mantra of deformers. Ravitch shows the
debilitating effects of poverty on children and how the education deform agenda
of closing schools, blaming teachers, pushing a narrow test-driven curriculum
down their throats, opening charters as competition – I can go on but will
spare you – actually undermines one of the few areas of stability so many of
these kids have – local neighborhood school, often packed with teachers who
spend many years there. I know all about that, having spent 27 years teaching
on one school in a high poverty area of Brooklyn. We may not have been the best
school all the time for every child but my colleagues and I were there year
after year, often teaching the children of our students (and I once taught the
grandchild – scary “getting old feeling” indeed.)
After spending over 200 pages savaging the deformers, she
goes on to offer ideas for real reforms, most of which are not cheap, including
investing in early childhood education and reducing class size. Maybe some of
the money saved from not bombing Syria can go into implementing some of these
real reforms. I’ll be doing a series of follow-up posts on the Ravitch book on
my blog. See her Sept. 11 appearance at Judson Memorial Church:
https://vimeo.com/74638155.
Diane Ravitch endorsed Bill di Blasio due to his having the
most real reform-like program of all the mayoral candidates. I had lots of
angst over whether to vote for Big Bill – I don’t really trust him to be as
progressive as he is claiming to be. As I walked to the polling booth I got a text
message from The Wave: vote for Sal Albanese. My nascent Rockaway chauvinism,
very heightened since Sandy, took over and I did it – with pride. The Wave made
a strong case for casting a vote for someone who couldn’t win but to send a
message. I don’t think that worked this time. I would hate to see The Wave sit
this one out because di Blasio didn’t come to Rockaway – but I bet he will now.
Little Bill (Thompson) pulled out before all the votes were
counted. The vaunted support of the UFT, which spent almost $3 million
supporting Thompson – over $15 a vote – did not work out. Michael Mulgrew is
being mocked for saying, “We’re not about picking a mayor. We’re about making a
mayor, making the winner. And that’s what we’re gonna to do.” Oy! Cringe time.
Even as a critic of the UFT leadership and the manner in which it went about
its endorsement (lacking, as usual, the democratic process), I still give the
UFT credit for dragging Thompson, a notoriously poor campaigner, into second
place over Christine Quinn. I have no doubt Quinn would have finished second if
not for the UFT support for Thompson.
But in the long run it all means nothing as Big Bill seems to have
pulled off the impossible by getting 40% and avoiding a run-off in the midst of
a very crowded field.
Now it’s on to the race with Lhota, a throwback to the
Rudolph Giuliani era who has to convince the public he is and is not a
Bloomberg/Giuliani clone. He totally support Bloomberg’s educational deform
policies which have so divided the city. And he is calling di Blasio divisive
for his “tale of two cities” theme. I personally don’t mind seeing the 99%
divided from the 1% – a fitting note on the 2nd anniversary of the
Occupy movement.
Norm blogs at ednotesonline.com
AFTERBURN
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Mother Crusader Reviews “Reign of Error”
-
Darcie Cimarusti, aka Mother Crusader, reviewed “Reign of Error” for public
radio WHYY. She explains how she got involved in the battle to save her
communi...
-
Reign of Error: A Short Review
-
Diane Ravitch was kind enough to send me and a number of my fellow
education bloggers an advance copy of her outstanding new book, "Reign of
Error: The Hoa...
Let It Reign!
-
The reformers can wait for Superman all they want. We’ve got Wonder Woman.
‘Reign Of Error: the Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to
Amer...
And of course RBE's killer review from Saturday:
There have been attacks against Diane Ravitch in the past,
but the one by Kyle Smith in the Post is particularly vicious.
I had the opportunity last night to be in the room with Diane Ravitch while she interacted with bloggers on the web using an interesting technology from Shindig. For over an hour I stood behind her taping her off the screen. Now I could have taped her off the screen I guess at home but I have an idea for a possible small documentary by gathering footage from her book tours - I wish I were going with her but alas, we hope people all over the nation -- like in Pittsburgh the other night where a thousand people showed up (I hear they have a tape) - will take footage capturing the excitement and upload it to a site I set up (contact me if you have footage even if on a phone.).
Kevin Francis 
Patrick J. Sullivan 
