Rating: 
Summary: "American Schools: History and Hope"
Review: ... In a recent Seattle Times special on computers in schools, a U.W. professor of educational technology is quoted as saying that American culture no longer values "traditional book-based learning" and that teachers must adapt to the fact that "deep and sustained thinking" will no longer be central to students' development. The authors of two new books would doubtless see this as further evidence that education "experts" tend to view schools as establishments for teaching social adjustment. Historian, scholar, educational policy analyst, and former Assistant Secretary to the Department of Education Diane Ravitch shows, in "Left Back," that such anti-intellectual attitudes are typical among the progressive theorists who have dominated 100 years of education reform in America. The premise of Ravitch's argument is that the real job of our schools is teaching students to think well. Everyone, regardless of origins or social status, finds pleasure and satisfaction in a developed mental life, but even more important is the fact that democratic self-government requires clear, independent, knowledgeable thinkers. According to these authors, the proper function of schools is to serve such ends, but competing demands have weakened school programs and blurred their proper focus on developing children's minds. Ravitch traces our present conflicts about the purpose of schooling to various (sometimes contradictory) movements she groups under the rubric of "progressive." Originally an educational philosophy that advocated building on children's interests and preparing students for a wide range of life's activities, progressivism split into divergent efforts to center schools on such concerns as vocational training, social reform, interpersonal skills, or "scientific" placements of children with normal IQ's in nonacademic tracks. To make such changes, says Ravitch, progressive theorists attacked the common curriculum that offered everyone the benefits of a liberal arts education. Progressive campaigns were not wholly successful but, Ravitch says, they diluted academic programs and lowered standards. And the best progressive methods, such as individualized instruction, creative learning activities, and motivation through student interest, came to be used as ends in themselves instead of as means of achieving worthy intellectual purposes. Above all, excellence in education requires excellent teachers. But though Ravitch is stern about improving teacher credentials and performance, she never mentions the possibility that where teaching is mediocre it's because low salaries and poor working conditions prompt many superb candidates to avoid the profession. Yet teacher salaries now rank the lowest among those of highly literate college-educated workers..., and Seattle high-school teachers are typically assigned 150 students--an impossible number to teach adequately, let alone well. Better salaries and smaller classes would be expensive and would require leaders to inspire greater public respect for teachers, but would do more in the long run to improve education than the attempted quick-fix of standardized tests. Still, though Ravitch's history sometimes overstates the case against progressive education it illuminates the origins of the more benighted claims we hear about the purpose of schooling, while offering effective counterarguments. In telling how American schools were shaped in the past by the decisions of human beings, Ravitch tells us, too, that our decisions today can make a difference.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must for Parents and Teachers
Review: Anyone who wonders how we got where we are today in the sad situation of our children's schooling should read this fascinating account of the educational fads and fancies that have followed each other over the years of the past century. In the name of providing the education our children need, so-called educators have robbed them of the heritage and the skills that should belong to them. Experts, often with nothing to recommend them but ideology and ambition, have shaped the curriculum of the public schools in the image of a misunderstood and misapplied "progressive" educational philosophy that has at various times replaced the academic with the vocational, the literary with the political, and the learner with the "whole child," a euphemism for everything in the child's experience except knowledge. Ravitch, a leading historian of education and the author of many books and countless articles, traces the story of how schooling has been corrupted in enlightening chapters that are as compelling as they are heartbreaking. She makes it clear what's wrong and suggests how to go about righting it. If you teach or if you have children in school, and even if you are simply a concerned citizen of this country, you owe it to yourself and the next generation of potential leaders to read this wonderful book. It's serious but not heavy and will make you smile as often as it makes you want to cry. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent on telling us what's wrong, short on solutions
Review: Diane Ravitch has done an excellent job of researching the roots of the current malaise in public schools. I once heard that early educational theorists actually wrote in terms of school being a means of social control, but I couldn't believe that people supposedly interested in educating the country's youth could be so insidious. Much to my dismay, Ms. Ravitch dispelled my skepticism. However, I thought the author was a little biased in her analysis, for example, when it came to understanding child-centered education. The reason it didn't and can't work in school is precisely because a school can't possibly accommodate all the highly individualized learning styles that all children -- and all human beings, for that matter -- have. But child-centered learning does work with homeschooling, because in that setting if what you're using doesn't work, then you really can change the way you're doing things. In addition, many homeschoolers don't have any structure at all, but are innately intellectually curious and do not need to be told what to learn. They enjoy learning and teach themselves. However, Ms. Ravitch doesn't even talk about homeschooling as an option, though as a researcher, she must know that it is the fastest-growing alternative to public education in the country. Ms. Ravitch seems too entrenched in the education establishment to question fundamental assumptions, like whether or not we need public schools at all, or whether the government can really do a better job educating our children than we can. There are so many people who have a stake in making sure public education survives -- like the National Education Association, teacher training colleges, textbook companies, consultants, etc. -- that to make even marginal improvements in public education requires so much effort, time, and money, that it seems that the system is beyond repair. Right now, there is no incentive to improve the schools, because we all have to pay taxes whether we send our children to public schools or not. Changing the tax structure would be one way of improving the schools, but Ms. Ravitch either didn't think of this possibility or won't entertain it as a real solution. Homeschooling is an embarrassment for the education establishment, because it has shown that children can be education much better at a much better price (the average per-child expense for homeschooling is $500, compared to several thousand for public education). So what are we paying all these taxes for? For a more radical solution, read Neil Postman's "The End of Education," and for a more radical critique of public schools, read John Taylor Gatto's "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling." Postman's solutions are equally unrealistic, though they would certainly improve the system. Gatto pulls no punches and tells it like it is. Gatto taught in New York City's public schools for thirty years, so he speaks from experience.
Rating:
Summary: What Kind of Education are Our Children Receiving?
Review: Diane Ravitch has written a monumental work that I hope every parent and teacher in the country will read. The book's complete title is "Left Back - A Century of Failed School Reforms." Just what are these reforms? They come in many names, but the most recognized name is the progressive education movement. You might think that such a movement was started by innovative administrators or visionary teachers...no, it was begun by educational "experts," many of whom have never spent any real time teaching in the real world. At one point Ravitch quotes an educator, "But compared to other countries, ours is the educational expert's paradise. Again and again the 'experts' advocate changes to our schools that the public does not support." But what kind of changes are we talking about? Ravitch classifies most of them under one of the following categories: 1 - Schools can and should seek to change in order to help solve society's problems. 2 - Only a small percentage of students need a quality academic education, therefore more "practical" electives should be offered (at the expense of academic subjects). 3 - The practical experience of the student is more important than the acquisition of knowledge. Ravitch gives us a full and complete history of the public schools in America, showing the reader how we have come to be where we are. This history is crucial to a proper understanding of the progressive movement. Don't skip any of it. This is an important work that will be praised by some and ridiculed by others. You may or may not agree with Ravitch, but she has done her homework and she knows her subject. I've been a teacher in public schools for nearly 14 years. The best principal I ever worked for constantly reminded our staff that everything we do as teachers falls into one of two categories: Teaching & learning or custodial service. Teaching is the primary reponsibility of teachers, not correcting each of the ills of society. Learning is what the students are there for, not to have a "feel-good" experience devoid of knowledge. Everything else is custodial. What are your children receiving? One of the best stories in the book describes an encounter between a man who met a woman whose child was in a progressive school. The woman was so proud that her children were having a "happy" experience at school. The man replied that to his relief, his children were being trained to develop their intellect and self-discipline in order to excell in a highly competitive world. Which would you rather have?
Rating:
Summary: What Kind of Education are Our Children Receiving?
Review: Diane Ravitch has written a monumental work that I hope every parent and teacher in the country will read. The book's complete title is "Left Back - A Century of Failed School Reforms." Just what are these reforms? They come in many names, but the most recognized name is the progressive education movement. You might think that such a movement was started by innovative administrators or visionary teachers...no, it was begun by educational "experts," many of whom have never spent any real time teaching in the real world. At one point Ravitch quotes an educator, "But compared to other countries, ours is the educational expert's paradise. Again and again the 'experts' advocate changes to our schools that the public does not support." But what kind of changes are we talking about? Ravitch classifies most of them under one of the following categories: 1 - Schools can and should seek to change in order to help solve society's problems. 2 - Only a small percentage of students need a quality academic education, therefore more "practical" electives should be offered (at the expense of academic subjects). 3 - The practical experience of the student is more important than the acquisition of knowledge. Ravitch gives us a full and complete history of the public schools in America, showing the reader how we have come to be where we are. This history is crucial to a proper understanding of the progressive movement. Don't skip any of it. This is an important work that will be praised by some and ridiculed by others. You may or may not agree with Ravitch, but she has done her homework and she knows her subject. I've been a teacher in public schools for nearly 14 years. The best principal I ever worked for constantly reminded our staff that everything we do as teachers falls into one of two categories: Teaching & learning or custodial service. Teaching is the primary reponsibility of teachers, not correcting each of the ills of society. Learning is what the students are there for, not to have a "feel-good" experience devoid of knowledge. Everything else is custodial. What are your children receiving? One of the best stories in the book describes an encounter between a man who met a woman whose child was in a progressive school. The woman was so proud that her children were having a "happy" experience at school. The man replied that to his relief, his children were being trained to develop their intellect and self-discipline in order to excell in a highly competitive world. Which would you rather have?
Rating:
Summary: A professionally written book by an experienced educator
Review: For the layman who is interested in gaining insight about the thinking, and decisions that have gone into educating our children, this book is an absolute must. For the uninitiated, who haven't a clue about where the ideas for educating our children came from, this book is the place to go. Diane Ravitch pulls no punches in this book. She goes right after the social engineers who tried to manipulate children into following a certain career path, instead of preparing them to face multiple choices. She does not believe that intelligence tests are the final arbiter of a childs ability to progress. In this book, I learned about the history and philosophies of leading educators, and the influence of their policies on education in this country. And I learned more about these issues than I had been taught in 16 years of public school and college. This book is a gold mine of information; and no, I don't know the author, nor am I being paid to write this. I just love this book!
Rating:
Summary: A Must for Parents and Teachers
Review: Good overall view of some of the problems in education today, but for the foremost and unquestionably the full story of what has happened to education, get Charlotte Iserbyt's book, THE DELIBERATE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA. It is also available on Amazon.
Rating:
Summary: Read This Short Thought
Review: I just finished reading THE MOST AMAZING BOOK in the
world on this topic, and I believe it is "The Underground History of American Education" by John Taylor Gatto. If you want a MIND-BLOWING, HEART-RENDING, EYE-OPENING
read, check out that book as well! Best of luck!
Rating:
Summary: Read This Short Thought
Review: I just finished reading THE MOST AMAZING BOOK in the
world on this topic, and I believe it is "The Underground History of American Education" by John Taylor Gatto. If you want a MIND-BLOWING, HEART-RENDING, EYE-OPENING
read, check out that book as well! Best of luck!
Rating:
Summary: Romping through a hundred years of educational folly
Review: Left Back is a magnificent book, and everyone concerned with education owes Diane Ravitch a debt of gratitude for having written it. The book's theme is the so-called "progressive education" movement and how for the past 100 years it has deprived students from all socio-economic groups, but especially poor students, of the rigorous academic education that would help them advance in society. However well-meaning the advocates of progressive education may have been, they have caused terrible harm by holding an array of destructive views, from poisonous social determinism at one end (black students are probably going to grow up to work in menial jobs anyway, so there's no point in teaching them abstract academic subjects that they will never need) to loony naturism at the other, under which children should never be taught about anything that they don't ask to be taught about. (And if they never ask, that's fine; they can just play for twelve years.) Ravitch's writing is unfailingly smooth and well-ordered, and more than fifty pages of detailed endnotes will allow curious readers to follow up on any of the topics she examines. Although Left Back confines itself to K-12 education, I found many parallels to what has gone on in higher education as well, particularly since the 1960s. Higher education has been infected with many of the ideas Ravitch describes by way of student affairs and residence life departments that oversee undergraduate life outside the classroom. Academic faculty at most universities abrogated their responsibilities for student welfare a generation ago, and the social and educational consequences have been disastrous. My copy of Left Back was given to me by a kind student who knew of my interest in university reform, and to her I am grateful. If you want to do good for your own neighborhood and your own local schools, buy a few copies of Left Back and start passing them around. Teachers, parents, politicians, and school board members should all read it and take it to heart. It will help them spot the next vacuous fad and the next new-and-improved brand of educational snake oil.
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