Yes, Diane Ravitch is Among My Heroes
John Merrow has taken an unusual step for a journalist. He has written a blog post that attempts to marginalize one of the central figures of our national discourse on education. The post is entitled "Do We Need More Heroes," and in it, he compares Diane Ravitch to far-right Senator Ted Cruz. He goes even farther, in characterizing those of us who admire Diane Ravitch:
I am pretty certain that the same people who idolize Ted Cruz or Diane Ravitch are equally vehement in their disdain for anyone who dares to disagree with their hero (and them). These people inhabit a comic book world without ambiguity where heroes require villains. Our society makes it easy to live in a black-and-white world without nuances-you can watch either Fox or MSNBC, but not both!
He does not explain who "these people" are. But since I would count Diane Ravitch as one of my heroes, I guess I must be among these zealots. So I felt compelled to respond:
John,
You ask your reader for who their heroes might be. But then the thrust of your piece is to preemptively impugn anyone who might choose Diane Ravitch as their personal hero, by