Ani McHugh, who blogs as TeacherBiz, wrote about the book after she heard me speak in Philadelphia on September 16. She was impressed that despite my age, I still spoke with “the energy and passion of a much younger woman.” She doesn’t realize that 75 is the new 55.
She brings to her review the unique perspective of Philadelphia, a city under siege, trying to maintain a semblance of education despite massive budget cuts by the state, which takes no responsibility despite the clear language of the state constitution.
Philadelphia and Pennsylvania are home to many of the misdeeds described in the book. The collapse of public education in Chester-Upland, where the governor’s biggest campaign contributor opened a thriving charter. The proliferation of virtual charters. The failure of a privatization under Paul Vallas.
Philadelphia is in extremis. The state’s willingness to preserve free public education in that city will be a test of our society a test of our commitment to equality of educational opportunity.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dr. Ravitch, I worked for 29 years for NJEA and six for PSEA. I worked with local teacher associations in some of the poorest cities in both those states (NJ and PA), including Chester-Upland. What is happening in CU is nothing short of a criminal assault on the poorest of the poor, led by politicians who have allowed the state to have a funding formula which penalizes poor districts and then criticizes them for “failing.” Corbett, a former prosecutor, should himself be prosecuted for failing to enforce the state constitution, which calls for a “thorough and efficient” system of public schools. By contrast, New Jersey’s Supreme Court forced the cowards in the legislature to fund poor districts at the same level as the wealthy districts, with some impressive results.
I love your work. And oh, by the way, Ani McHugh is my daughter, of whom I am inordinately proud.
Robert P. Broderick
Beverly, NJ
And yet Philadelphia, according to their 2013-14 budget has for its regular public schools over $15,600/student/year and about $9,600student/year for charter schools. This gives back the state since there are 55,000 in charter schools a bonus of $330,000,000 to give back to the corporations out of their billion tax break from just that one school district. Is the state paying for the corporations by charter school savings? The cost of living index in Philadelphia is 196 and in L.A. 193 so they are the same. LAUSD has this year $11,765/student/year and pay the teachers about the same. Employee wages and benefits here are from 80-85% of the general fund here and from 50-55% in Philadelphia. Lots of extra money to blow away to their favorite friends. Federal revenue is 1/2% and is normally 11-13%. Who robbed them of that money? When is someone there other than in L.A. going to do something with their budget and wipe out the corporatist privatizers by exposing their fraud and theft? You can never win unless you know the money and it is obvious there seem to be some lazy people there and they do not really want to stop this.
Reblogged this on Professor Olsen @ Large and commented:
Excellent review of an excellent new book.
“Not surprisingly, the Chester Upland district is virtually bankrupt, and, as in Philadelphia, its public school students have suffered immensely—largely due to Governor Corbett’s willingness to put political interests ahead of the interests of the district’s children.”
This really, really needs to be discussed, nationally.
We need to talk about the people and schools who have been the big losers under “market based” school reform.
All I read is constant discussion about whether charter schools are benefitting kids. That’s a perfectly valid inquiry, but what about the other 90% of kids?
I spent some time on the Education Nation website, and I can’t find anything on how traditional public schools have benefitted from reform. This seems to me to be an outrageous omission. We have spent a decade and billions of dollars. Surely there should be SOME analysis or mention of how these specific policies we have adopted have impacted traditional public schools? Was it a gain, a loss, what? Surely someone in “reform” is looking out for the interests of the 90%?
After the bomb is launched on the iPads we are going to go to the Justice Dept. and FBI for a full criminal investigation. We must get them prosecuted on breaking child abuse laws and for basic RICO criminal violations at the expense of the future of our youth and for stealing taxpayer money or attempting to do so which is conspiracy at least.
Sorry Dr. Ravitch. I am 84 – got you beat – but am still VERY interested in the role of education. I have children and grandchildren whose interests are very dear to me – AND – it is not just in education per se but the whole world in which they are inheriting.
Ergo – my interest in education also.
My dad only stopped working at Boeing Helicopters at 82 because his wifes dementia had progressed so far. He would have worked into his 90’s and they wanted him to stay. He died at 94.5 sharp as ever it was the leukemia which took him down. I saw him at 70 in a video I had not seen doing a cartwheel on the beach in Hawaii. I never knew he could to a cartwheel much less at 70 in his disco clothes and he skied until 75 and he fell and said this does not feel so good this time. If you are healthy, and you sure looked good at Occidental, the best thing for you is to keep working and active if you do not work. They say the best way to preserve your brain is to keep it active and this work certainly does that. I tell people that if my mind starts to go it will be easy to spot for as soon as I start to lose it it will be so obvious because of my public presence on so many complicated issues. Like my dad I am going to burn till I drop.
Great Post George……”Use it or Lose it”….
The problem is that in this day and time….teachers are burning out at a younger age..
The Stress of the Tests is the Major Reason in all cases!!
An excellent superior teacher resigned last June…age..50..
You would want your child in her class as you would be assured that everyday would be a good solid teaching day and that your child would learn something new.
Then….Common Core kicked in….Chaos….More Tests..no one knows exactly what to teach…..grasping for straws…Chaotic and Crowded Curriculum…….nothing solid to build lessons on…Standards thrown in a big pile (reminds me of the Vonage pile on the commercial) ….
Teachers are to sort this chaos out using trial and error….of course all results depend on the Tests…nothing else matters….
The talent any child possesses is thrown out of the window..
.Nothing matters except an academic Test Score….
All other interests the children may have are considered worthless…musical ability…athletic ability…mechanical ability…..artistic ability of any kind…….construction skills….communication skills…none are important ………
..As if the only people who run this world are those in academia……
Teaching in a school was at one time ….a place to develop the talents and/or interests of each and every student.
They learned all of the basics ….then the teachers would help the students to build their education based upon their interests.
Eventually each individual student decided what career they would like to pursue….sometimes changing during the first year of a college or technical institute….
Now…they have been told that on this Educational Core Factory Line,,,,,Quality Control picks your Path in Life…….
It is the Test Way or No Way….
Longtime English teacher used to write regularly for the Washington Post, and we followed his common sense commentary for years. After an absence for a while, he had a wonderful piece in the Post last Sunday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/four-decades-of-failed-school-reform/2013/09/27/dc9f2f34-2561-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html
Thank You Pat….
The last two paragraphs are spot on….Here is the next to the last…
“I found that the most helpful professional-development experiences involved fellow English teachers sharing what worked in their classrooms — always with the caveat: “This works for me; it may not work for you.” Being with people who loved doing what I did and exchanging ideas without any professional jealously was always reinvigorating.”
Forgot to include his name!
Patrick Welsh, who taught at T.C. Williams High School for 43 years.