The Opposition…

The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Ed...

Diane Ravitch

Discussion: 2011-Jan-Feb-Mar

Why we're reading this: March 3, 2011
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2011-Jan-Feb-Mar

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* March 2011
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 23 views

last updated Apr 06, 2011 04:16PM

* February 2011
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 16 views

last updated Mar 01, 2011 05:20PM

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Apr 09, 2015 Kathrina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: teaching, history

This book includes all the reasons why I value education, and all the reasons why I don't want to be a classroom teacher. Kudos to Ravitch for having the guts to change her mind about the values of the educational system, while still revering the values of k-12 education. ...more

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Apr 15, 2010 Angel rated it did not like it

Shelves: education, history

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Actually giving one star to this combination of regret and restatement of the obvious is being generous. Ravitch basically spent her time in the 80s and early 90s promoting the testing and "choice" trends that now dominate a lot of the education establishment. She basically now had a change of heart and is going against most of what she actively promoted. This is a history of American education mostly looking at the end of the 20th century into today. If you have kept up with what has been going Actually giving one star to this combination of regret and restatement of the obvious is being generous. Ravitch basically spent her time in the 80s and early 90s promoting the testing and "choice" trends that now dominate a lot of the education establishment. She basically now had a change of heart and is going against most of what she actively promoted. This is a history of American education mostly looking at the end of the 20th century into today. If you have kept up with what has been going on, this book will not tell you anything new. In my case, all I have to do is look at my daughter's school and their constant obsession with standardized testing and how they pretty much teach to the test to see the results of Ravitch and her ilk: a major stifling of creativity and independent thinking, students who graduate mostly with one skill--the ability to fill bubbles on a multiple choice sheet, and who are barely knowledgeable of basic skills or the information and knowledge they need to be good, informed civic-minded active citizens.

Her conclusions are not that much better. Yes, we need major changes. Yes, we need a major exercise of collective will for the public good. Yes, we need stronger curricula, stronger instruction, better teachers (who are better paid as well, something Ravitch barely touches). Yes, we need to stop thinking of schools as businesses. These are things that others have said before, and they have said them much more eloquently. To me, as a former teacher and now librarian, this book seems like too little too late. The damage is already done, and it is going to take a lot of effort and will, things seriously lacking in a society that does not value education, and where anti-intellectualism is becoming the norm, to fix things. And there lies the tragedy, well, for the U.S. Meanwhile the rest of the world will continue to do better on skills tests overall than the U.S. given they have things like strong curricula, teachers and resources. These are things we could have and that we could do, but as a society we choose not to. Tragic indeed.

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Sep 26, 2011 Alison Hamel rated it it was ok

I'm glad Ravitch changed her mind about NCLB, but this was probably the most boring book on the state of public education that I have ever read - and I've read a lot of them. I wish she had focused more on the human cost of NCLB - how it actually affected the way students experience school instead of the business side of things. ...more

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