My Review of Yong Zhao’s Book: No Longer Behind a Paywall

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1. KrazyTA says:

   November 1, 2014 at 12:35 am

   A first-class review of a first-class book.

   My sincerest congratulations to both authors.

   I urge readers to buy this book and Anthony Cody’s THE EDUCATOR AND THE OLIGARCH and read them in tandem.

   To put the review and these two books in perspective, let’s look at what passes for thoughtful, logical and compelling research and writing by the self-styled “education reformers.”

   From the blog of Aaron Pallas re the NCTQ [National Council on Teacher Quality], one of many Gates-funded stink, er, think tanks.

   [start quote]

   To be sure, few of us relish being put under the microscope. But it’s another matter entirely to be seen via a funhouse mirror. My institution, Teachers College at Columbia University, didn’t receive a summary rating of zero to four stars in the report, but the NCTQ website does rate some features of our teacher-prep programs. I was very gratified to see that our undergraduate elementary and secondary teacher-education programs received four out of four stars for student selectivity. Those programs are really tough to get into—nobody gets admitted. And that’s not hyperbole; the programs don’t exist.

   That’s one of the dangers of rating academic programs based solely on documents such as websites and course syllabi. You might miss something important—like “Does this program exist?”

   [end quote]

   Link: http://eyeoned.org/content/the-trouble-with-nctqs-ratings-of-teacher-prep-programs_478/

   You want to read something of substance that provokes thoughtful in-depth consideration of a topic? Read the review by the owner of this blog and the latest books by Yong Zhao and Anthony Cody.

   You want to read the opposite? Predetermined conclusions in service to the mad dog pursuit of $tudent $ucce$$? Then let me mangle a quote by Ambrose Bierce:

   “Research funded by the Gates Foundation — vagrant opinions without visible means of support.”

   😎

   Reply
   • Laura H. Chapman says:

     November 1, 2014 at 9:24 am

     Nailed it with Gates. thanks.

     Reply
2. Randal Hendee says:

   November 1, 2014 at 2:12 am

   Great review! The concise account of how we got to the current state of affairs is priceless, but the appreciation of both Yong Zhao’s critique and his vision for American schools really gets to the heart of the matter. I was present for Yong Zhao’s keynote speech at ISTE 2012 in San Diego. His talk was as funny as it was pointed. And while the bogus reformers have their platitudes and false talking points, he has the facts, figures, historical context, common sense, and actual insight into teaching, learning and schools on his side.

   I ordered the book. What I want to see now is a media blitz that gets his message out to the world. Why are people like Amanda Ripley fawned upon? And why was her book piled face up on the new releases table at Barnes and Noble while Diane’s Reign of Error was buried at the back of the store? Why isn’t Yong Zhao’s voice heard on NPR? Or practically anywhere? Thanks to Diane for trying to correct this.

   Reply
3. Laura H. Chapman says:

   November 1, 2014 at 10:04 am

   The author and the reviewer deserve high praise. Both demonstrate the narrative and explanatory power of historical and cultural perspectives and need for this kind of wisdom in setting policy. American education is being damaged by the blatant disdain for expertise in education, especially scholarship of this quality.

   Reply
4. Vinh says:

   November 1, 2014 at 10:15 am

   I’m so glad that someone has finally tackled the issue of the supposedly superior Asian educational system. As an Asian born American, I have long recognized the limitations of that system for creating the types of individuals that can drive progress and innovation. As an educator, I have tried hard to steer clear of a pedagogy that emphasizes conformity and rigidity, but it is so difficult in the high stakes standardized testing throes that we are in.

   Reply
5. SomeDAM Poet (Devalue Added Model) says:

   November 1, 2014 at 12:39 pm

   “The Zhao of Education”(2)

   The Emperor told the Zhao
   “The Test will show them how”
   The Zhao replied “You’re naked”
   You simply can not fake ed”

   Reply
6. Alice in PA says:

   November 2, 2014 at 10:04 am

   We all need ri read it, but not buy it through Amazon given their CEO’s support of the charters schools can save the failed US school system myth

   Reply
7. vandykel says:

   November 4, 2014 at 6:59 pm

   Vandykel@michigan.gov

   Reply
8. Bill Duncan says:

   November 6, 2014 at 4:27 pm

   Your review, Diane, talks a lot about rote learning in China with the implication, I guess, that there’s a risk that the U.S. will move in that direction. But does anyone assert that the Common Core promotes rote learning? The reality is just the opposite.

   As for testing, which most everyone agrees we need to do differently and do less of, the move from bubble multiple-choice to complex, multi-part problems and performance tasks is also a move away from rote and toward critical problem solving.

   Just because the U.S. wants to increase PISA scores doesn’t mean that anyone is suggesting we educated in a rote fashion. Who has actually made that argument?

   It seems to me that China is a red herring in the discussion of American education policy.

   Reply
   • dianeravitch says:

     November 6, 2014 at 5:41 pm

     Bill Duncan, when our leaders keep looking enviously at Shanghai, it is important that they know how Shanghai got those scores. Why aren’t they looking enviously at Finland, where there is no standardized testing until the end of high school?

     Reply
     • Bill Duncan says:

       November 6, 2014 at 10:44 pm

       Oh, I think we (they) look much more to Finland than to Shanghai. The planes are full of delegations to Finland. And I agree that’s a good thing. Our NEA-NH president just came back, as part of a good size group. He was very impressed and appreciative. The dean of the Harvard ed school talks about how much it meant to her….Pasi Sahlberg is visiting there, as you know. Finland is important to the discussion here.

       And I think that party contributes to the emerging theme in the U.S. that, like Finland, we don’t need so many darn tests.

       I think we should recognize that when Linda Darling-Hammond, Gene Wilhoit, Marc Tucker, Andy Hargreaves, Henry Braun, David Conley and…yes…Arne Duncan and many others are all making serious proposals about alternatives to the testing box we’re in, that the move away from standardized testing has begun.

       And we will see it gather steam soon.

     • dianeravitch says:

       November 6, 2014 at 11:09 pm

       They are reacting to a mass revolt among parents and teachers. However, Duncan praises Shanghai, not Finland. The Common Core was not designed to stand alone. It issupposed to be tightly linked to annual online tests and punitive teacher evaluations.

     • Bill Duncan says:

       November 7, 2014 at 5:29 am

       Diane, I think parents, teachers and these education leaders are all responding in the ways available to them to the failure of No Child Left Behind.

       And, yes, the standards were made to be testable just as every other standard is. The Massachusetts standards were made to prepared students for the MCAS. But the misuse of the test to bash teachers instead of to improve instruction is a whole separate matter. Although this election may have breathed new life into that and we need to fight it tooth and nail, I think that movement is dying as state after state moves away from a tight link between test scores and teacher evaluations.

       And if you look at Arne Duncan’s statement about the last PISA results, you will see Finland right there alongside Shanghai. I see no suggestion that we revert to rote learning in what he or anyone else proposes for American education.