Can school be transformed into an industrial model and still
be successful? The answer is a resounding no, according to Diane Ravitch,
professor and author in her latest book” Reign of Error. “She cites the fact that
issues like merit pay, school vouchers, for-profit schools, and even the Teach
for America programs; all have flaws as corporate moguls try to fix public
education with marketplace schemes that are also investment opportunities.
Ravitch notes that the childhood poverty rate in America is
higher than in any other advanced country. She writes that UNICEF reports that
this rate may be as high as 23 percent. According to the author “achievement
gaps are rooted in social, political and economic structures.” Basically we as
a nation have to deal with these issues if we are ever going to create a major
paradigm shift in American public education.
If there is one facet our public education system that needs
to be preserved and enhanced it is our early childhood and preschool programs. This is the place where we need to focus a great
deal of our investment. If parents do not have the time, resources or
inclination to jumpstart their children’s’ education, then some other
institution must. Much in the same way schools
inherited administering the free and reduced lunch program, accepted the
responsibility to teach students about drug and alcohol abuse as well as sex
education, America’s teachers need to be prepared to stimulate the young and curious minds of those children who walk into
our schools.
Professor Ravitch
believes that there is linkage between education and the future of democracy.
That notion was first proposed by Declaration of Independence Signer Dr.
Benjamin Rush in the 18th century, just as the fledgling United
States of America was being created. There is no denying that the education
system in the US need to be fixed and soon. Policymakers cannot continually jump from one “new
best thing” to another with reckless abandon and hope that the quick fixes will
cure the system forever.
Reign of Error- The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to
America’s Public Schools
c.2013 Alfred A. Knopf Publishers
Can be order from Amazon.com from this site.
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