The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch
Friday, February 27, 2015 • 4:00am
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| The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch Credits: Basic Books |
Let's start today's review on The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch with your homework assignment. On a piece of notebook paper . . . no, scratch that … on your keyboard write the name of the best teacher that you ever had. Under his/her name list five reasons why that teacher was the best one you ever had and support your opinions. Repeat the process, substituting “best” teacher with “worst” teacher. When you have finished your two lists, compare your reasons and deduce what qualities one should look for in a good teacher. Then write a five paragraph opinion paper on the qualities of an excellent teacher.
See, anyone who ever went to school thinks that he/she is an authority on what comprises a good educator --- or so many politicians and business people have come to believe. However, Diane Ravitch, former assistant U.S. Secretary of Education, has concluded that those in politics and business have become too entrenched in public education and are steering the “great American School System” in the wrong direction.
Ravitch, who has studied education for over forty years, criticizes the path on which contemporary America schools are headed. She explains the dangers in restructuring schools, rails on using test scores to punish instructors, and points out the dangers in using charter schools to segregate the top students from the bottom instead of using charter schools to help lower ranked students become achievers. Categorically, Ravitch blasts using the “business model” to restructure American education.
Since PARCC is looming ever closer in New Jersey's schools, Ravitch's chapter on standardized testing, “The Trouble with Accountability” is particularly important. She begins, “NCLB (No Child Left Behind) opened a new era of testing and accountability in American public schools.” (150) Just as parents and educators are protesting the implementation of PARCC, those forces filed lawsuits and protested against the new standardized testing during the Bush era to no avail. But Ravitch continues stating that it was the misuse of testing, ranking schools and educators based on test scores, that became the major The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch - Edison NJ News - TAPinto: