Books for Teachers: The Death and Life of the Great American School System
Diane Ravitch is our national educational historian par excellence. I have been reading her books for years, and I am always amazed at how skillfully she argues for a higher quality of education. She is an especially eloquent advocate for a comprehensive national curriculum, which I appreciate.
In her latest book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education, Diane Ravitch makes a passionate plea for a more careful, thoughtful form of public schooling. She addresses many the current educational reforms that supposedly promise to “fix” our school system, including the No Child Left Behind act and the rise of billion-dollar venture philanthropists. She also discusses other current panaceas such as the rise of the charter school movement, denunciation of