Bill Raden of Capital & Main, a California-based political journal, interviewed me about the baleful effects of disruption (aka “reform”) on children, communities, schools and education.
He asks about the source of the money behind disruption and about what California needs to do to rein in its reckless and feckless charter industry. Naturally I thought about the billionaires and hedge fund managers who have used their money to disrupt education and to fund politicians who share their goals or want their campaign contributions.
He also asks about my hopes for the future, which is embedded in my critique of the status quo. I answer, take the profit out of the charter industry. Make local school districts the sole authorizer of charter schools. Require that charters collaborate—not compete—with public schools.
It would be a joyous day indeed if and when the vast resources of the charter industry were devoted to helping children, families, communities, and public schools rather than disrupting them.
At the end of the book, I propose a path forward to turn the Disruptors into reformers. It begins with the recommendation that they lobby to pay higher taxes to support a higher minimum wage and greater investment in schools and social services.
By the way, if you want to know my specific recommendations for reform, read “Reign of Error,” which contains detailed, research-based actions that the billionaires and hedge fund managers could adopt if they really want to help children.
It’s up at OEN
https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Diane-Ravitch-on-Disruptio-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Diane-Ravitch_Education_Education-Funding_Education-No-Child–200130-862.html#comment755103
with a review of “Slaying Goliath” in the commentary
Deformer to Reformer?
Deform without the “D”
And “R” instead, you see
Will never ever be —
A Gates without a Rhee
An Arne sans Obama
A you without your momma
A Coleman sans a Core
An Oxfordmoron boor
A Zimba sans garage
A Common Core mirage
A Rhee without her broom
An ed Deformer’s doom
I wrote that several years ago.
But the writing has been on the wall for a long time:
“Graffiti Grows in Hartford”
(Diane Ravitch versified)
Graffiti high up on the wall
Says “Schools are not a business”
“But public good for one and all”
Though some have clearly missed this
Supposed to be below The Foglifter
The day that we hear political candidates running for governor, senator or president say, “The biggest problem our children face is poverty,” that will be the day that I’ll think that I’ve done my job.
And there it is. Diane Ravitch cuts through all the fog and comes to the essential, the key point of the current Great School Wars.
The Foglifter
The billionaire was beaten
By lady with a blog
Who managed to defeat him
By dissipating fog
love this!
I picked the same quote…. the day that we hear political candidates running for governor, senator or president say, “The biggest problem our children face is poverty,” that will be the day that I’ll think that I’ve done my job.
See also the other Capital and Main posts for Diane Ravitch.
Of course you did, LOL!
Btw, Laura, could you and Robin Lithgow get together and petition the next President to make you joint Secretaries of Education?
Fans of Diane Ravitch shouldn’t be surprised if a negative review of Slaying Goliath appears at Slate. New America (Eric Schmidt’s spin tank), Arizona State University and Slate partnered to form Future Tense which “examines emerging technologies, public policy and society”.
Annie Murphy Paul is a Fellow of both New America and Future Tense.
Arizona State University’s ASU Now published a biased “primer” created by its “experts” that painted privatization in a positive light, March 18, 2019. Eric Schmidt is Google- -enough said.
ASU has been in the tank for privatization for years. It holds an annual conference of people looking to make a profit in the education “industry.”
Again, Diane, thanks for never letting the odds deter you from doing what’s right for children and the nation.
All of those who frequent your living room want you to know that in whatever way we can, we have your back.
THanks, Linda. I appreciate that.
One of the best arguments for expertise that I know is this:
Imagine physicist and climate change expert Richard A. Muller being Secretary of Energy. Imagine Diane Ravitch being Secretary of Education.
Now imagine Rick Perry being Secretary of Energy and Betsy DeVoss Secretary of Education.
Evidently, complete ignorance of the area one is responsible for is a job requirement in the Trump Misadministration.
cx: DeVos
aka Ditzy DeVoid, aka Cruella DeVille’s younger sister, Clueless DeVille
I enjoyed the article and interview. I hope that the book or even the publicity surrounding it will help to open the eyes of people to the cesspool of profiteering is a key motive of the most of the disrupters. The fight for public education is a fight for democracy itself. Every child in our country should have the right to attend a well resourced public school free from outside commercial interests.
As I read this interview, it came to mind that there will be people who disagree with a basic premise most of us here accept. Almost all of us would say that school is for everybody, and should be funded to help everybody. Not everyone agrees.
Many people, some of them parents, want school to only be for those who want it. Many will like the public expenditure of money on their child to the exclusion of other children. They will tell you (as they have told me) that the education is there for the taking if the kid will just work. Kids have to do it themselves. If these kids don’t take advantage of the rigorous schools and wash out of a tough charter school, it is their own fault.
This vocal minority of parents are following what many parents do, take care of your own kid, to heck with everybody else’s.
Parents generally try to do what is best for their children. Some public schools are selective, and they serve special populations. Many aspiring performers attend a high school for the arts, and an aspiring doctor may seek out a school with a strong science program. Generally. these magnet type schools are in densely populated areas, and their existence does not harm the sending district as a few students from any one district is not a major loss of funding. Charter schools often set up shop in the same general vicinity of the public school in order to siphon off as many students as possible in direct competition to the local public school. In a smaller town the impact of charter drain can be devastating.
I’ve been watching a Rubin Report video (2+ hours) on Andrew Yang that NPE linked to from their candidate ratings. It’s fascinating! I haven’t finished it, but I feel like I understand much more about who he is. I’m guessing that some of the other links might be as useful. You should play those up, Dianne.