Ravitch Seeks Broad Reforms to End Reign of Error
SEPTEMBER 16, 2013
Diane Ravitch (Jan. 2012; photo by the author)
Just in time for its official release tomorrow, I’ve finished reading an advance copy of Diane Ravitch’s new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. For people who have been following education policy debates long enough and already know that they tend to agree with Diane Ravitch on most of the issues, there will not be any surprise revelations in the book; such readers might appreciate, as I did, Ravitch’s ability to pull together a combination of historical information, more recent studies, international comparisons, and various other sources that argue against the current direction of (supposed) education reform. For example, I didn’t know that the job protections commonly known as “tenure” actually pre-date teacher unionism (126). I was also interested to find some nuance in Ravitch’s argument against strict use of seniority, to the exclusion of other considerations based on students’ needs, in staffing decisions (130).
For those who tend to disagree with Ravitch on the issues, I would encourage them to take a look anyways, for two main reasons. The first is that, unlike recent books by purveyors of supposedly#RealEdTalk, Michelle Rhee and Steve Perry, Ravitch’s book minimizes personal narrative and substitutes copious footnotes and an index; in other words, she backs it up. You can disagree with her recommendations, but she makes it hard to deny the problems. Let’s take the chapter on charter schools for example. Ravitch points out the internal contradiction in charters claiming to be public schools when its time to collect money and win over politicians and voters, but claiming that they are exempt from many laws and regulations that apply to public schools.
