Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools Author: Diane Ravitch | Language: English | ISBN:
B00BRUQ376 | Format: EPUB
Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools Description
From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, “whistle-blower extraordinaire” (The Wall Street Journal), author of the best-selling The Death and Life of the Great American School System (“Important and riveting”—Library Journal), The Language Police (“Impassioned . . . Fiercely argued . . . Every bit as alarming as it is illuminating”—The New York Times), and other notable books on education history and policy—an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools.
In Reign of Error, Diane Ravitch argues that the crisis in American education is not a crisis of academic achievement but a concerted effort to destroy public schools in this country. She makes clear that, contrary to the claims being made, public school test scores and graduation rates are the highest they’ve ever been, and dropout rates are at their lowest point.
She argues that federal programs such as George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama’s Race to the Top set unreasonable targets for American students, punish schools, and result in teachers being fired if their students underperform, unfairly branding those educators as failures. She warns that major foundations, individual billionaires, and Wall Street hedge fund managers are encouraging the privatization of public education, some for idealistic reasons, others for profit. Many who work with equity funds are eyeing public education as an emerging market for investors.
Reign of Error begins where The Death and Life of the Great American School System left off, providing a deeper argument against privatization and for public education, and in a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, putting forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve it. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it.
For Ravitch, public school education is about knowledge, about learning, about developing character, and about creating citizens for our society. It’s about helping to inspire independent thinkers, not just honing job skills or preparing people for college. Public school education is essential to our democracy, and its aim, since the founding of this country, has been to educate citizens who will help carry democracy into the future.
- File Size: 3424 KB
- Print Length: 416 pages
- Publisher: Knopf (September 17, 2013)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BRUQ376
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,152 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Public Policy - #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > Aims & Objectives - #3
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Policy
Dr. Ravitch shatters one corporate reform myth after another with clarity providing excellent background information in the Notes and Appendix of this book.
Because of her courageousness and direct approach, expect the corporate media to attack her because no one is left standing in this book, at least on the reform side, from President Obama's support of school privatization to the machinations of Michelle Rhee.
This book is a perfect reference guide to all things ed reform. Don't understand much about test scores? Check out the chapters "The Facts About Test Scores" and "The Facts About International Test Scores". Don't know the history of Michelle Rhee? Go to "The Mystery of Michele Rhee". How about the Parent Trigger? Read the chapter "Parent Trigger or Parent Tricker". (Love the title).
The best part is that after Dr. Ravitch explains all things corporate reform, she provides real solutions to the challenges of public education. The answers aren't easy, there is no silver bullet as she explains, but the solutions are based on a wide range and depth of knowledge, history, experience and good old-fashion common sense.
And the cover? You can't miss it. A marketing ploy? Possibly. This book will stand out in bookstores and in history as a go-to guide on public education in this decade.
Now for some specifics.
In the Introduction, Dr. Ravitch states:
"The purpose of this book is to answer four questions.
First, is American education in crisis?
Second, is American education failing and declining?
Third, what is the evidence for the reforms now being promoted by the federal government
and adopted in many states?
While the title smacks of sensationalism, Reign of Error is actually a methodical dismantling of the many myths degrading public education and a detailed historical account of the privatization movement fueling the myths. Ravitch was soul searching in The Death and Life of the Great American School System. In Reign of Error, Ravitch has found her voice. She is unapologetic in her defense of public schools and takes on the reformers intent on injecting their free market ideology into public education.
While Ravitch is a superhero to many discouraged public educators, she rejects superhero solutions to public education problems. "I have no silver bullets--because none exist--but I have proposals based on evidence and experience," writes Ravitch. A life lived looking at schools certainly affords her this perspective. Reign of Error spells out the comprehensive, community-wide solutions required to support public schools plagued with socioeconomic problems larger than what public educators can handle by themselves.
For those of us who have regularly followed Ravitch's recent work, we do not find anything in her new book shocking. Many of my own blog postings have piggy-backed off Ravitch's thoughtful work. Ravitch calls for tried-and-true reforms focusing on equity, improving early childhood care, ending high-stakes testing, expanding middle class-like enrichment to needy students, developing and respecting educators, reducing class sizes, fully funding public education, and more.
Reign of Error will hopefully serve as an antithesis to the 1983 Nation at Risk, which was the catalyst for thirty years of misplaced blame put on public schools for what in reality are problems caused by trends. Ravitch calls for a re-do on school reform.
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