Melanie McCabe, an English teacher at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia, and an author, wrote this terrific and accurate review of SLAYING GOLIATH.
Unlike the reviewer for the New York Times, who is not a teacher and gives no hint of ever having set foot in a classroom since she finished school and college, Melanie McCabe knows full well about the billionaire-funded attacks on public schools and their teachers, which continue to seek their privatization of our public schools and to impose business ideas about closing schools based on spurious data.
Teachers get it. Teachers know that their students are being strangled by high-stakes testing and their schools are deprived of resources when forced to compete with charters and vouchers, which do not offer better education than the public schools they harm.
McCabe writes:
[Ravitch] has written a thought-provoking, painstakingly researched account of those who have sought to privatize and monetize America’s schools. She calls them the “Disrupters,” and they are indeed a foe with all the intimidating strength of Goliath. Confronting this opponent is the “Resistance”: the ordinary teachers, parents and citizens who are fighting back and winning.
Ravitch exposes the self-serving motivations of the Disrupters — many of them among the richest people in America, such as the Walton family, Bill Gates, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Koch brothers and Mark Zuckerberg. Their belief that schools should be operated as businesses, with private ownership and data-driven decision-making, has resulted in dismal standardized test scores, the closure of public schools and the demonizing of teachers. The charter schools they have championed and have been enriched by have not resulted in promised improvements, but instead have drained much-needed funds from struggling public schools. The Disrupters are not supporters of education, Ravitch argues; rather, they are in pursuit of the money to be made not only by running charter schools but also through involvement in such lucrative industries as student testing, educational hardware and software, curriculum development, and consulting services…
Though the history of the school reform movement and its impact on schools and students are alarming, the story Ravitch sets out to tell is not one of hand-wringing despair; rather, it is a heartening account of how teachers, parents and union leaders across the nation have been fighting against the damage caused by the Disrupters. The Resistance opposes privatization and misuse or overuse of standardized testing, and seeks adequate compensation for teachers and funding for public schools that has too long been diverted to charter schools….
Ravitch’s message is not one of gloom and doom, but rather she offers a rallying cry that shows how people everywhere are wising up and fighting back. “The great lesson of this story is that billionaires should not be allowed to buy democracy, although they are certainly trying to do so,” Ravitch writes. “The power of their money can be defeated by the power of voters.”
There is much to learn from this book, and much inspiration to be found. The book is not written as a how-to guide for the Resistance. It is a scrupulously thorough study of a tumultuous period in American education. However, the conscientious reader who seeks strategies to combat the pervasive damage done by the Disrupters will find useful information here, along with affirmation that fighting back is possible. To paraphrase one of the chapter titles, Goliath has stumbled. The reign of terror is not yet over, but it has been brought to its knees.
“The reign of terror is not yet over, but it has been brought to its knees.” Ohh. I like the thought of that.
What a great review. How can anyone write an honest/decent review when they don’t understand what is happening inside schools, especially inside the classroom where teachers and students interact?
Easy for the NYT’s reviewer to write- she’s a Fellow of the New America Foundation (the spin tank of Google’s Eric Schmidt). Media reported that New America fired the leader (Barry Lynn) of one of its departments when he wrote that the tech industry had too much power. The current N.A. COO was in the New Orleans school privatizing contingent.
A great review! Thank you, Ms. McCabe!!
My favorite line from it: “[T]he conscientious reader who seeks strategies to combat the pervasive damage done by the Disrupters will find useful information here, along with affirmation that fighting back is possible.”
Clearly, Ms. McCabe actually read Diane’s book, as the reviewer in the Not Woke Times did not.
Great review of a momentous book.
Speaking of Goliath- interesting robocall from Bloomberg this morning. Press 1 and they will deliver a yard sign.
Bernie in 2020!
perhpas taking a Bloomberg sign and very clearly changing it into a Sanders sign would be an effective message 🙂
I was out of touch with the internet (very happily) yesterday so I missed this wonderful review (a not-so-good side effect of my old man, flip phone sort of life, ha, ha.)
I was actually carrying Diane’s book with me part of the day -which I’m still reading. Bringing along “Slaying Goliath” was like wearing a political pin and, at one point, a good way to get a conversation going about schools.
Nice job, Melanie.
It’s great to see an actual, working teaching who can manage the time to also weigh in on these important issues. And, say something of such merit.
I was curious and looked at your schedule on your school’s website. It does look like you are very busy teaching.
I’m always amazed that people on this blog can do so much.
To wit: I see that Diane mentioned elsewhere yesterday that she is “browsing” blogs and decided to subscribe to yet another source of information…what??? How do you do this?
I went with my daughter to a professional hockey game last night and I could hardly keep my eye on the flying puck. I was in awe…like I feel sometimes when I read things on this site.
Humans are so amazing….and quirky. And, wonderful.
But I had this really sad feeling, too, at points -watching those truly accomplished athletes zooming all over the ice.
How in God’s name have we ended up with… Trump. I mean of all the great people in this country? He’s our elected leader???
It’s like a dark cloud hanging over us, the last three years.
Well, on that certainly unhappy note I’m going to go eat breakfast. (When in doubt, eat breakfast I say.)
Thanks again, Melanie. I hope you have a good rest of the school year.