Monday, July 12, 2010
Death and Life of the Great American School System
I have just finished the first few chapters of Diane Ravitch's new book with the above title. She makes a very clear case concerning the notion that since we can't decide politically about what to teach (writing curriculum and precise standards), we have, as a country, tried to mechanize "basic skills" instruction. To provide cover for the appalling ignorance about what to teach, the smokescreen of "testing and accountability" became an added component to punish nonbelievers.
She clearly tells the history of all this, from District 2 in NYC, through San Diego, and finally the complete takeover in NYC under Bloomklein.
Every educational system embodies an implicit image of man: what is man, and what is he capable of? Human nature is so malleable that we become what we think we are. Unfortunately.
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