This book review just appeared in the New York Review of Books.
I wrote it before the election but was able to update it immediately after the election, before it went to print.
I review Samuel E. Abrams’ “Education and the Commercial Mindset” and Mercedes K. Schneider’s “School Choice: The End of Public Education?”
Both are worth reading.
I enjoy publishing in TNYRB because it has a large readership that reaches well beyond the educators and engaged parents who read the blog. It is probably our most distinguished literary/political journal, and I am honored to write there.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
My latest facebook posting:
Defined as a time when truth has become irrelevant.
Oxford Dictionary editors have chosen their 2016 international word of the year: “post-truth,” a term that saw a massive spike after Brexit and Donald Trump’s nomination as the Republican candidate for president.Â
Oxford Dictionaries announced Wednesday that use of the term rose 2,000 percent between 2015 and 2016, specifically in discussions of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and the campaign of President-elect Trump.
The full definition reads: “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
It’s often used in the phrase “post-truth politics” and is defined as belonging to a time in which truth has become irrelevant. In this instance, the prefix “post,” takes on a different meaning, rather than simply referring to the time after a specified situation or event, says the dictionary.
“It’s not surprising that our choice reflects a year dominated by highly-charged political and social discourse,” said Oxford Dictionaries President Casper Grathwohl. “Fuelled by the rise of social media as a news source and a growing distrust of facts offered up by the establishment, post-truth as a concept has been finding its linguistic footing for some time.”
He continued, “We first saw the frequency really spike this year in June with buzz over the Brexit vote and again in July when Donald Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination. Given that usage of the term hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, I wouldn’t be surprised if post-truth becomes one of the defining words of our time.”
Each year, Oxford University Press picks a word that reflects the mood of the year. Runners-up for 2016 include “Brexiteer,” an advocate of the UK leaving the EU; the extreme conservative movement known as the “alt-right”; and “hygge,” the Danish concept of domestic coziness.
LikeLike
Gordon,
You just pre-empted a post scheduled for today!
LikeLike
“post-truth politics” and is defined as belonging to a time in which truth has become irrelevant.
Was there ever a time that politics was about truth . Did the American people ever vote on the basis of truths. Or was their always a filter of how they perceived their own situation . Who had their backs . Which can also be seen as; if you have that “OTHER” persons back and it is costing me . You can’t have my back. A big part of this election and a part of our politics for ever .
As for the truth, is it not the same few in economics are “scientific truths” . . We all view a circumstance put it through our own separate filters and decide witch TRUTH to believe .
I will repeat this one again.
“Politics who .gets What When and How” a better way to view it .
Those in the education wars can easily see how the “TRUTH” has been manufactured to suite the needs of the elites controlling who will get those education dollars or what role Public Goods will play..
Can we also see that the “TRUTH” has perhaps been altered in other areas of the economy to suite the needs of pretty much the same elites. I could list easily a dozen memes that are passed on as truths from “its the robots ” to ” the skills gap” or “teachers are responsible for the failures of children in poverty.”
LikeLike
there always and probably a dozen other erors
LikeLike
errors
LikeLike
suit and which as well
LikeLike
Great piece. Thanks
LikeLike
It’s scary to me not because of the demise of “a public sector” but also because of the corrosion in the private sector it represents.
It’s like they can’t figure out how to make money anymore with cannibalizing the public sector. That’s a private sector problem, not a public sector problem.
They’re out of ideas. So much of their gains are coming from just moving money around.
There’s no actual employment or wealth gain when you fire a public sector teacher and hire a charter teacher. It’s 1 to 1 trade-off just like there’s no actual increase in value when they transfer funds from a public school to a private school. In Ohio we actually lose local income because they pay charter teachers 10k less than they do public school teachers. They’re not just moving money “around” they’re moving it OUT.
They’re firing social workers here and contracting out to a social work service company. That “company” wouldn’t exist if they weren’t firing public sector social workers.
LikeLike
Taken to extremes it has to end in failure, right, because if 3/4 of the “private sector” are wholly dependent on public funding then where will the public get the money to fund all these contractors? There has to be an ACTUAL private sector, not just contractors who replace the public sector. That won’t work.
LikeLike
The new company that offers social services contracts bills themselves as “growing”
Well, not really “growing”, right? Just a replacement for a public service that already existed and was and is wholly publicly-funded. Maybe “encroaching” or “cannibalizing” or “replacing” is a better word than “growing”. Growing indicates some kind of net gain.
LikeLike
Thank you for your stamina in working to save public education. I felt slightly shell shocked when reading the history of the war on public schools. With the Trump dynasty in power, we will need the public more than ever, to launch the next phase of the war. It is a battle for democracy with millions of little lives in the balance. It is a war we cannot afford to lose. We need parents, communities and civil rights groups to band together to resist and challenge every worthless, anti-democratic proposal.
LikeLike
Diane: A well-written and highly informative review. And politically-speaking, what better timing. I read that yesterday, and then this morning read Gordon’s Oxford Dictionary piece on the post-truth era. I suppose we should keep on trying, especially since it’s true that the sun still rose over the hill to the east this morning. Or did it?
LikeLike
I agree. The reviews are tutorials for readers who are in need of information–context–on why the books are worthy of their attention. Good to know the NYTimes provides a forum for this and other informed reviews by Diane.
LikeLike
Laura,
It is not The NY Times, but the New York Review of Books. The Times is read and tossed out overnight. There are so many interesting articles by scholars and luminaries of various fields in NYRB that the journal is kept and read carefully. You can’t read it in one sitting.
LikeLike
Diane–yes about keeping the Book Review. I did the same when I lived in the D.C.area. For years, I kept the then-similar Sunday Book World (in the Washington Post) and read it cover to cover, all week. I kept them in a stack and reread them often and, when I moved, it pained me to throw them out. Nothing less than rich; and nothing like reading the daily news.
LikeLike
A broader, deeper perspective than one finds in daily papers
LikeLike
The hill rolled over into the sun!
LikeLike
There is literally NO discussion in ed reform circles about what happens to public schools under Trump:
“President-elect Donald Trump will be “the greatest thing that ever happened” to charter schools, Rudolph Giuliani recently declared, speaking as vice chairman of Trump’s transition team.
That could happen — but there’s an equal chance he will be the worst.
The former New York City mayor’s assertion is based on a simple campaign vow: President Trump will create a $20 billion grant program for states to fund “choice” programs, such as vouchers and charters.”
They’ll throw public schools under the bus so fast in DC your head with spin.
It’s not even a CONCERN. The sole focus is charter and private schools.
We are now going to be paying a huge group of people in DC who have ZERO interest in 90% of schools. It’s ludicrous.
This is the lesson they took from Trump’s election. That they should double down on charters and vouchers.
LikeLike
Chiara: “There is literally NO discussion in ed reform circles about what happens to public schools under Trump.”
Whether reformers are well-meaning or not (and I think many are), like Trump, they won’t have cause to listen, much less to stray from their “reform” movement–until and unless they understand how saturated they are with a capitalist-only mindset. Like (what appears to be) Trump’s one-horse viewpoint, there is no other way to understand the world–everything is approached with the question: How to capitalize on this? And if you cannot, what good is it? It’s like being a hunter with a gun, a carpenter with a hammer, or a lawyer with a dispute. Shoot it, smash it, or take it to court.
So that those who speak from a broader view, namely, from understanding the difference and relationship between capitalism and a culture’s political foundations, in this case, as fundamentally democratic/ republican (where capitalism has its place, but is not the ONLY guiding factor), to them, sound like listening to a foreign language–one they never learned.
LikeLike
Public schools are so screwed as far as funding:
Richard Whitmire ‏@richardwhitmir 3h3 hours ago
How should Trump hand out charter $? I suggest a Founders test: Grow those top charters, then on right track.
Public schools advocates better get on the stick. The ed reform “movement” are thrilled with Trump. All they’re talking about is the 20 billion going to charters and vouchers.
This is a dream come true.
LikeLike
We need to raise the threat level to “orange alert” and be prepared to launch a counter attack. As my mother said, “There’s no point to crying over spilled milk.” Organize!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“There’s no question that Trump-Pence will create tremendous new opportunities for students and families around the country,” said Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform. “First, with its bully pulpit — the charter school community has been beaten up and badgered for the last several years.”
Allen also applauds their promotion of vouchers, predicting that programs such as D.C.’s controversial Opportunity Scholarship Program, which last year gave scholarships to 1,244 poor students to attend private school, will come off “life support.” The House voted to extend the federally funded program last year, but the measure stalled in the Senate.”
What a shame. All of DC will now abandon public schools. Obama really tee’d this up. He entrenched “choice” advocates so deeply no one else even had a chance to be heard from. We’ll now have two sides- promote charters and vouchers slowly or promote charters and vouchers quickly. There is no dissent.
LikeLike
I agree. The parties have been a disaster. If we can judge the recent victories in Georgia and Massachusetts as a victory for public schools, many more people will see Trump and Pence for the empty space they are. The next four years will be about privatizing everything they can force on the public. The public must resist, fight, demonstrate, and pressure elected officials to keep public education public.
LikeLike
An added wrinkle from Watchdog.org.:
BEGIN QUOTE
Expanding adult charter sector pleads for transportation funding
By Emily Leayman / November 16, 2016
In Washington, D.C., 6,000 adult and alternative education students are taking another shot at high school. Now all they need is a ride.
“It should be learners ride free, not kids ride free,” D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) told Watchdog.org.
Adult students are not covered under the city’s taxpayer-funded Kids Ride Free program on Metro rail and buses. Because the city funds school buses only for special education students, the program covers public school students and bus fares for private school students for rides to and from school. END QUOTE
http://watchdog.org/281695/expanding-adult-charter-sector-pleads-transportation-funding/
LikeLike
Cost posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/When-Public-Goes-Private–in-General_News-Books_Diane-Ravitch_Education_Failure-161117-359.html#comment630099
with this comment The EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AND those WHO own the legislatures — are ending public education, mandating from the top, practices that crush those at the bottom –both teachers and children — but, you see, children are not children for long, they are the adults who vote, and who run the nation in a few years.
LikeLike
Thank you for this brilliant, insightful article and your relentless efforts to save public education. You are very much appreciated.
LikeLike
Folks. PLEASE reread what is in this, especially the first paragraph and how it affected the election, Brexit et al. Yes, what many of you have said is absolutely true
but
Did you note that utter falsehood has increased 2,,000% just in one year?
EDUCATION has always been about searching for ultimate “truth”. If any semblance of “truth” has been terminated what does that do to our society as a whole? What chance has real education at all, public or private.
People have believed these deliberate lies and will continue to do so.
The impact of this deliberate deception is catastrophic, beyond the bounds of any semblance of democratic governance.
LikeLike
Did you see this?
http://www.valuewalk.com/2016/11/public-schools-ban/
LikeLike