Archives for category: Klein, Joel
Newer Entries »

Stop the Campaign Against Public Schools!

By dianeravitch
May 22, 2012 //
13

My review of the Council on Foreign Relations’ report on US public schools as a “grave threat to national security” is now available online. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/do-our-public-schools-threaten-national-security/?page=1

I hope it is widely read. I urge everyone who reads it to send it to their friends and colleagues.

The report I reviewed was written by a task force chaired by Joel Klein and Condaleeza Rice. I believe the report is part of a campaign to undermine public education. Public education needs constant improvement, of that there can be no doubt. But it does not need to be disparaged and demeaned as a national security threat.

As I say in the review, the real threat to our future is growing poverty and income inequality and intensifying racial isolation. The report mentions these issues but fails to offer any suggestions to reduce their negative impact on our society.

The report goes out of the way to find every possible way to show public education in a negative light. It does not mention that high school graduation rates and NAEP test scores in reading and math are at historic highs for all groups. This is a hit job on one of our society’s essential democratic institutions.

I wish I had said more in the review about the role of public education in creating citizens for our democracy. In teaching students what they need to know to vote wisely, to serve on a jury, to develop the judgment they need to make good decisions for themselves and their community. Test scores are not the same as education. They are not even the same as achievement. Our metrics are too narrow. They distort the work of the schools. Schools have a far larger role to play than raising test scores. They shape character and they develop citizens.

Those who insist on trashing our public schools and ignoring their importance are really attacking our nation. They forget that we live in the world’s most powerful nation with the largest economy and the most creative thinkers and entrepreneurs (yes, entrepreneurs–I have no objection to money-making as long as entrepreneurs are not invited to make money by running schools). Public schools, which educated 90% of our population, deserve credit for our national success. The constant carping and criticism strike at one of the mechanisms that made this success possible.

It’s time to stand up for public education, to stand up for the dignity of the teaching profession, and to speak out against those who attempt to do them harm.

Diane

Categories Klein, Joel, NAEP

Psychologizing Female Critics

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2012 //
10

I received an email the other day from one of my email friends—that is, someone I have never met but have become very friendly with—and he made an interesting observation. He said he was reading Gail Collins’ book When Everything Changed, about the amazing changes in women’s lives since the mid-1960s, and he realized something that he wanted to share with me. He said, your critics have a habit of psychologizing their criticism of you. That is, instead of engaging with the substance of what I write, they look for some deep motive. This is simply a form of condescension, in this case, a male reaction to a female with whom they disagree.

He quoted Arne Duncan, who said, “Diane is in deep denial.” He quoted another critic who said that I was “angry,” though the critic didn’t say why I was angry. It all sounded like a version of the old saw that a feminist was acting as she was because of her hormones or some hidden grievance. We can’t take the little woman too seriously because she….

Now the emails that flowed between the New York City Department of Education and lobbyists for charter schools have been released and they continue in the same vein. I am described in them as “deranged,” a “dangerous crackpot,” “dishonest and platitudinous,” and “slippery.”

At no point does it appear that anyone discusses or debates my serious concerns about privatization. None of these men attempts to challenge or refute what I wrote. No, all these guys can do is to demean, condescend, and insult.

My correspondent put all this into context. These men are reacting by psychologizing my motives. Is that what men do when they think no one is listening and that no one will see their emails?

Diane

http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/05/crowd-sourcing-up-till-now-secret.html

http://www.edwize.org/foiled-again-an-inside-look-at-joel-kleins-war-against-public-schools-and-teacher-unions#more-11644

Categories Duncan, Arne, Klein, Joel, NYC, Ravitch, Diane
Newer Entries »