[net-gold] Ravitch: 'A Moment of National Insanity'




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Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:22:26 -0500
From: Bonnie Bracey <BBracey@xxxxxxx>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: sigde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, net-gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
    wwwedu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Net-Gold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Net-Gold] Ravitch: 'A Moment of National Insanity'




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Please read and reflect and share
with those who are not online

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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/
diane-ravitch/ravitch-a-moment-of-national-i.html

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Ravitch: 'A Moment of National Insanity'

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By Valerie Strauss

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This was written by education
historian Diane Ravitch for her
Bridging Differences blog, which
she co-authors with Deborah Meier
on the Education Week website.
Ravitch and Meier exchange letters
about what matters most in education.
Ravitch, a research professor at
New York University, is the author
of the bestselling The Death and
Life of the Great American School
System, an important critique of the
flaws in the modern school reform
movement.

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Dear Deborah,

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I'm beginning to think we are living
in a moment of national insanity.
On the one hand, we hear pious
exhortations about education reform,
endlessly uttered by our leaders in
high political office, corporate
suites, foundations, and the media.
President Obama says we have to
"out-educate" the rest of the world
to "win the future."

Yet the reality on the ground suggests
that the corporate reform movement ---
embraced by so many of those same
leaders, including the president ---
will set American education back, by
how many years or decades is anyone's
guess. Sometimes I think we are
hurtling back a century or more, to the
age of the Robber Barons and the great
corporate trusts.

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Consider a few events of the past week:

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In Detroit, the school system will
reduce its deficit by closing half the
city's public schools and placing
students into classes of 60. These are
among the poorest and lowest performing
students in the nation. Parents and
teachers should be rioting in the streets
of Detroit, along with everyone who cares
about these children and our future.
This is an outrage.

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The school board of Providence,
Rhode Island, sent notice to all of its
teachers that they could be terminated
at year's end to address its deficit.
Most will be retained, but now the board
has maximum flexibility to choose which
ones. At the same time, Providence's
leaders are humiliating every teacher,
breaking the bonds of trust that are
essential for the culture of a good school.
Will anyone hold these reckless, heedless,
unprofessional "leaders" in Rhode Island
to account?

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And the business leaders in Idaho have
a plan to lay off 770 teachers and
replace them with online learning.
Do they know there is no evidence for the
efficacy of virtual learning? I don't
think they care. For them, this is just
a cost-cutting measure. And it's other
people's children who will get this
bargain basement training, not their own.

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If more was needed to strip away the mask
of "reform," consider the deafening silence
of the corporate school reformers in
response to these events. A few, like
Joe Williams of Democrats for Education
Reform, surprised their confreres (and me)
by siding with the teachers of Wisconsin.

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snip

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By Valerie Strauss |
March 1, 2011; 5:00 AM ET
Categories:
Diane Ravitch, Education Secretary Duncan,
Guest Bloggers | Tags: arne duncan,
diane ravitch, gates foundation,
president obama, president obama and
school reform, race to the top,
school reform, teachers

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The complete article may be read at the URL above.

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Bonnie Bracey Sutton
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