Since you have been with me every step of the way on this book, and since many of you have shared stories that will appear in the book, I want you to be the first to know that I finished the first draft on December 31, 2018.
I am now getting my peer review committee to review it for errors, redundancy, whatever. Then it goes to the publisher.
I have proved that it is possible to blog every day and write a book of 125,000 words!
A hint: It is a hopeful book, a book that will show that the light at the end of the tunnel is NOT an oncoming train.
There is good news! The Zombie apocalypse will be repelled!
Stay tuned!

LOL!!! Congrats, Diane!
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OMG! You are a wonder. Can’t wait to read it!
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Yay! Mazel Tov! Congratulations! Yippee! I can’t wait to read about the light. I knew it was there, but you make it brighter every day.
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What you said, Steve! Plus–Diane–I LOVE that phrase “the light of the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train.” Is it an original from you? (I like to give creds to whomever they’re due.)
My husband, a train fan from way back, would love this!
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I have always heard the discouraging claim that “the light at the end of the tunnel is or may be an oncoming train.” Not original to me.
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Another phrase out there- rock bottom has a basement.
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I also love trains, and, under the influence of westerns, I came to this country to ride trains everywhere. Big disappointment. I hate trains to be put in a bad light, even for the sake of an uplifting metaphor. So I demand the post to be changed immediately to something like
The light at the end of the tunnel is not a burning airplane.
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Máté Wierdl: I support you. The light at the end of the tunnel is definitely NOT a burning airplane. Who can dispute that?
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Diane Hats off to you and your associates, Diane. You show what sustained intelligent leadership can do in an embattled democracy. CBK
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Diana, you are a miraculous wonder, a joy to follow. Happy New Year.
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Truly amazing, maintaining this prolific education blog which leaves all the others in the dust while writing a book. Diane must be a super speed reader to absorb all the blog posts and all the reading necessary for a book.
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Everyone needs some light now as the tunnel has been so long and dark. Congrats on another tome of wisdom to share with the world!
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Ravitch 2020
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Amen to that. On second thought, I wouldn’t wish such grief on one I so admire!
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You are amazing!!!! I don’t know how you do it all.
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Drat! Another book to push the others down my reading list.
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Thank you, Diane!
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Congratulations! Looking forward to some optimism!
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YAY. Congratulations, Diane. Thank you for all you do. 👍🏽
I am reading: FIRST DO NO HARM by Steve Nelson. It’s really good. I am going to the Boulder Bookstore on 1/22/18 to hear Steve Nelson speak.
There is a lot of HARM going on and it’s getting worse.
And … “Child Trafficking and Child Abuse” are going on at those horrid detention centers right under our noses. Sickens me.
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Thanks, Yvonne! Looking forward to seeing you. And maybe a cup of coffee later in Jan or early in Feb!
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Steve–will you be in/near Chicago? Would love to hear you speak (& get an autographed book).
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Thanks! Probably not, unless a bookstore, school or someone invites me.
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Dr. Ravitch’s book, a wonderful gift for a deserving nation, kudos to her, a 125,000 times over.
Unlike Angela Duckworth, whose blather the rich soak up, Ravitch consistently provides in-depth analysis steeped in understanding and compassion. Duckworth thinks there’s an online audience for her new “thought of the week”. In LOL fashion, Duckworth signed off her announcement introducing #TOTW citing the trite, “With grit and gratitude.” Duckworth’s tripe is self-indulgent and tone deaf. Thank God for her opposite, Diane Ravitch.
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Hooray! Can’t wait to read it…hanging on to the hope!
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The Light at the End of the Tunnel
At tunnel end
A glimpse of light
And not a train
So calm your fright!
The night inside
Gives way to day
Reformers hide
And fade away
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Ahhh!
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LIKE!
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Awwww!
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Yes!!!!
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👏🏻Applause and 👍🏻 thumbs up!
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If there was a Mt Rushmore for heroes of public education, you would on it. Thanks for all that you do, Diane…
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Chuck,
Agree. Those fighting today for American democracy should be honored with an edifice as large as Rushmore.
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Amazing accomplishment. You are a multi-tasker for certain. I look forward to the book and hope it is another best seller.
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Great news. Congratulations!
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Diane,
Congratulations! I can not wait to read it.
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So great to hear about this! Congratulations!
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Diane, you are a wonderful role model for this 69-y.o. Just a PT teacher here. My free-lance PreK/K for-lang teaching means traveling to diff schools & working w/2-1/2 – 6y.o.’s– so requires high energy in 2-3hr bursts, plus ongoing creative work to update the course [self-designed]. Somehow have acquired 3 new clients in 3 yrs & napping extensively to adapt! Can barely keep the house moderately clean! The concept that someone 11 yrs older than myself can manage both a widely read, multiple-post/day blog AND publish the next in a long line of terrific books is… simply… INSPIRING! [Could this mean… I actually can incorporate neglected goals despite ebbing energy? Maybe yes!]
Thank you.
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Bethree,
Yes, you can. Look at Mancy Pelosi. She is 78. And what a deceptively gentle powerhouse.
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Well said!
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You are a rare disciplined determined author indeed. Go Diane go!
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Hamlet told Polonius he was reading words. Now here you are writing more of them. How will Hamelets of our modern day ever get done?
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Dearest Dr. Ravitch:
Love, laugh and hope is the best medicine for all sentient beings on this beautiful Earth.
We will be six feet under whenever our destiny is called by God regardless all of us are saints or evils.
The only a major difference is that all Saints ascend to bright light and warm love atmosphere whereas all evils descend to dark and hot atmosphere.
Definitely, you have brought love, laugh and hope to all conscientious readers, all students, all teachers, all parents, and all good or bad politicians within USA and all international educators who faithfully believe in Public Education and in humanity.
May Heaven wait for all of us when time is coming with bright light and warm love atmosphere. Congratulations on your new book that will be soon published.
Lots of respect and love to you.
May, your secret admirer forever.
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Congratulations! I assume this isn’t the aforementioned (some time ago) new edition of EdSpeak?
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If it’s anywhere near as good as “Reign of Error” we’re all in for a great read! Can’t wait!!
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I was “radicalized”in the fifth grade by a social studies textbook titled “Heros, Heroines and Holidays”. I had no idea it had been controversial until I looked it up on line one day. There was where I first learned about suffragettes and the first wave of feminism, about Elizabeth Cady Stanton whose father, a judge, explained that laws about women were mean to mimic those about property.
The book is out of print, but for me an updated version would include profiles of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Nancy Pelosi, Sharice Davis, Debra Haaland, Dianne Feinstein, Deborah Meier and Dr. Diane Ravitch.
You are an amazing inspiration!
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The book’s timing is critical to the momentum building against corporatized education and weaponized policy.
McKinsey and Co. in the news (NYT) for its links to authoritarian regimes boasts about its successful contracts with 5 U.S. school systems which helped them scale up personalized learning in classrooms to reach 250,000 students by 2019.
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Many congratulations, Dr. Ravitch. You are truly an inspiration to us all.
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Yay! Congratulations! you continue to amaze me.
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