I read an article last fall that compared our current education reform movement with Stalinist education policy. (A reader told me that the link didn’t work. Another reader sent me a different link. Thanks to all! The article is “Stalinizing American Education” by Lawrence Baines, Teachers College Record, September 16, 2011).
There is a part of me that is reluctant to go along with any sort of alarmism, not the alarmism of today’s Henny-Pennies (“the sky is falling, we are failing, failing, failing”), nor the Henny-Pennies of other eras. Unless one is presented with real catastrophe, the best course of action is usually incrementalist and muddling through. Act in haste, repent at leisure. Fix what’s broke, don’t mess with success. That sort of thing.
But the article begins with three statements and asks you to guess which one was made today and which were made by Soviet leaders in the 1930s. And frankly, the reader can’t tell. They all sound exactly the same. They all blame bad teachers for poor pupil performance. They all demand 100% success so all children can learn.
And the author goes further to make additional comparisons between then and now, such as a national curriculum, standardization, frequent standardized testing, emphasis on STEM subjects, and a regime of compliance. The compliance regime banishes the localism that produces innovation and progress.
Does this article make sense? Is it cause for concern? Should we think twice about the road on which we are racing to the top?
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
History teachers have made these connections since the nationalism of education began. It is telling that history, and social studies in general, has been marginalized under Common Core and the DisgRace to the Top. And even more frightening is the current proposal by NY Regents that would make global history optional. History may indeed repeat if we have generations of students who don’t learn the warning signs of threats to intellectual freedom.
Diane, I can’t seem to get the link to the article to load. Is there any way you can fix this? Thanks!
The link works for me.
It is called “Stalinizing American Education” by Lawrence Baines in the Teachers College Record, September 16, 2011. Google it.
You might want to check the link again, because it opened up my faculty email page, since it begins with https://mail.google.com/mail/ It might be related to a link from a message inside your own Google email account.
The link doesn’t work for me either. As James Thurber said, “Well, it makes a difference to me.”
This link works. The one in your post didn’t work for me either:
Click to access Stalinizing%20American%20Education.pdf
Yes, this does make sense to me. Aren’t we suppose to learn from history?
I do question whether or not I find this compelling because it is, or because it supports my opinion.
After reading the article, I am profoundly disturbed. I am extremely concerned that no one in the top echelons of the DoE has any classroom experience at all! What makes these people think they know what being a teacher is or how difficult the job is? How can they empathize with teachers who go home crying because of something that happened to one of their “cherubs”? How can Arne et al understand how essential collaboration is when his group has never had to consider the most effective way to implement a flawed curriculum to a class of non-English speaking students? Why does it make sense to train someone outside of a University and then expect them to be more proficient in the classroom? My head is reeling after reading the Baines article and I am left with far more questions than answers.
Being paranoiac does not necessarily mean someone is really not out to get you! Warning people of a present danger does not mean that the danger isn’t present. All of us who know education should do a little more alarming with data on our side. You are not Henny Penny or Chicken Little to keep warning us of the truth,the sky is falling. It will be the children of today who will be adults of tomorrow that will be destroyed. The sky will have fallen on them and we would have ignored the warnings.You and Baines need to keep warning!
I didn’t know about Stalin’s education policies before I read this but for several years now I’ve been talking about “the Stalinization of education” — making an analogy to the famous five year plans which were imposed from above, set unrealistic goals with penalties attached, and resulted — of course! — in massive falsification of results and cooking of data by people on the ground. My wife and I are educators who work with English language learners and we suspect the real purposes of such goals, now as then, are intimidation, fear, and control. … Before I started talking about “Stalinization,” I was merely calling the situation “Dilbertesque.”
Yes, data appears to be the new weapon of choice.