Since my earlier post of Jim Horn’s thoughtful review contained an incomprehensible autocorrect error, I am reposting here. Haste makes errors. My stubborn insistence on doing everything on my own comes with a price. My apologies.
Jim Horn has been a thorn in the side of the know-nothings for many years. He’s smart, he’s tough, and he has a long memory.
In this review of “Reign of Error,” he reminds me of my own long sojourn in the wilderness of bad ideas. Now, I am happy to say, he welcomes me into the fold as an ally in the fight to preserve public education.
He generously concludes:
“It took a long time for Dr. Ravitch to break clear of the corporatist influence that has controlled the increasingly antiquarian version of education reform since the coming of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Whether her conversion in 2007 resulted from the gentle persuasion of researchers like Richard Rothstein or from the fierce prodding of researcher-advocates like Gerald Bracey and Susan Ohanian, Diane has made up for lost time since regaining her sight after being struck blind on the road out of DC. Whatever happens over the next ten or twenty years in education policy, her place is secure, just after six years of battle, as the single individual who most influenced the eventual outcome if parents and teachers and students continue to heed the call for the restoration and renewal of public schools free of high stakes tests for all children who choose a high quality and free education. Ravitch has brought the word—now it is time to act.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, every time I see a student wearing one of those tee shirts that says “I do all my own stunts” I think of you. (In a good way).
🙂
Thank you, Joanna. I often ask myself why I subject myself to the rigors of “doing it all,” which mean’s I sometimes forget the link or have an autocorrect error, and here is the answer. I strive for the long -lost virtue of authenticity. With most people, you have no idea who wrote what they said or published. The odds are good it was a hired aide. I don’t like that, I don’t want to be like that.
I take nothing away from Jim Horn’s fine review, but I think he missed one obvious influence on Diane Ravitch’s change of opinion:
Deborah Meier.
I would add that Jim Horn also misses the a streak of consistency in Diane’s mindset [quotation follows]:
School reformers sometimes resemble the characters in Dr. Seuss’s Solla Sollew, who are always searching for that mythical land “where they never have troubles, at least very few.” Or like Dumbo, they are convinced they could fly if only they had a magic feather. In my writings, I have consistently warned that, in education, there are no shortcuts, no utopias, and no silver bullets. For certain, they are not magic feathers that enable elephants to fly. [THE DEATH AND LIFE OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM, 2011 paperback edition, p. 3]
She did not lightly, quickly or thoughtlessly change her mind. She did something few do no matter what part of the political spectrum they call home: challenged herself to get it right, no matter how human or imperfect or inconsistent that made her seem. In public, no less, on the net, slowly and deliberately, with all the uncomfortable moments that must have brought. When she found she was wrong, she went deeper to see just where and how she had gone wrong.
The subtitle of this blog is “a site to discuss better education for all.” I think she has never stopped advocating for a “better education for all” — just that she’s gotten better, and more accurate, at doing it right.
Why would she go to all that trouble? I think we need to look to something called character.
“To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.” [Plutarch]
Turns out those old dead Greek guys knew a thing or two…
🙂
The faithful will always find evidence that their view of the deity is the correct one, although in this case, the scripture chosen introduces more questions than it answers when the non-preferred past is examined (I think Santayana had something say about those who don’t recall the past).
I applaud Ravitch for moral and intellectual courage, rather than her consistency; if she had remained consistent, we would not be enjoying the mind-blowing work that resulted from her conversion but, rather, we would be continuing to suffer the lash from the cruel Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus. I’ll prefer the brilliant Paul the Apostle any day.
For me one of the most endearing qualities of Dr. Ravitch is indeed her integrity to change her mind, admit her error when evidence presents itself of the fallacy of what was once believed. The No Child Left Behind legislation is the most glaring example which comes to mind. One of the most brilliant minds I met at the University of Michigan once stated something to the effect if a person could say without equivocation the same thing year after year, he/she had not grown much. I agree.