Thomas Ultican, retired teacher of advanced mathematics and physics in California, has written the first review of my new book SLAYING GOLIATH: THE PASSIONATE RESISTANCE TO PRIVATIZATION AND THE FIGHT TO SAVE AMERICA’S SCHOOLS.
He liked it!
He calls it “spiritually uplifting” and describes it (accurately) as a “fight to save the commons.”
Enjoy!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m hoping we get pro-public education leadership at the federal level. There have been changes in that direction in many states, where reformers were defeated and pro-public education governors were elected, but the ed reform echo chamber remains firmly ensconced at the federal level.
That seems to happen a lot, where the states change and the federal government is the last to notice or shift, so here’s hoping we get pro-public school student federal employees in 2020, after a twenty year absence.
3 anti-public school presidents in a row are enough. Let’s bust up the ed reform near-monopoly in DC.
I think public school students deserve actual advocates in the federal government- people who support their schools. They have been cheated for too long. They’re paying thousands of public employees who are ideologically opposed to the schools 90% of them attend and don’t lift a finger on their behalf. That’s a rip off and we can do better.
Nice picture of Tom and Diane. And, it’s a wonderful review. I’m looking forward to getting the book in the mail.
a great way to start 2020 🙂
A great review, Mr. Utican!
The Resistance becomes unstoppable. . . .
My prayer for 2020
Thank you Bob. I am not a confident writer so your comment is very encouraging.
Well, there you go, hiding this, month after month, behind sterling prose! Thank you, Tom, for being a powerful voice for kids!
I think, Tom, that some are intelligent enough and have high enough standards to understand how freaking impossible good writing is. You find yourself, there, among the ranks of such other writers who lacked confidence as W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot.
I can never reread anything I’ve done without trying to improve it. Cuchulain with his sword drawn against the waves. Me with mine drawn against my own wordiness, labyrinthine syntax, disorganization, and frequent typos. Friends with whom I correspond by email get sick of receiving draft after draft from me. Sorry. One last correction. Oops. One more. Last one, I promise! Oh, wait a minute. . . .
“Of the making of books there is no end.” –Ecclesiastes 12:12