Thursday, June 7, 2012

Deconstructing JindalCo’s voucher defense - The Independent Weekly

Deconstructing JindalCo’s voucher defense - The Independent Weekly:


Deconstructing JindalCo’s voucher defense

Written by Walter Pierce   
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Diane Ravitch, a New York University professor, education historian, author and outspoken critic of the recently adopted Louisiana Scholarship Program, otherwise known as the voucher program, blasts state Superintendent John White in her latest blog entry, which was picked up by The Washington Post — an indication that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s “bold” plan for privatizing public education in the Bayou State is getting the critical, national scrutiny it deserves.

“I debated whether to give this blog post the title you see or to call it ‘State Commissioner of Education John White Acknowledges That He Doesn’t Know How to Improve Schools,’” Ravitch writes in the introduction of an essay she would ultimately title “Vouchers and the future of public education.” The essay echoes many of the concerns expressed by this newspaper and editorial pages across the state, namely that parochial schools with dubiou