Let's You and Him Fight

OMG, I was hating on Diane Ravitch just a few days ago and now she goes and writes this tough opinion piece and I can't help but admire her just a bit. Ms. Ravitch can usually be counted on to stand up for classroom teachers--our allies in the field--and this time out, she does not disappoint.

The essay in question is part of Bridging Differences, a frank exchange of letters between Ms. Ravitch and Deborah Meier posted on the website of Education Week. This entry, a response to an earlier missive by Ms. Meier, is called Why Are People So Gullible About Miracle Cures in Education?.

Challenging the public's prevailing belief that classroom teachers are the problem, Ms. Ravitch writes:

As long as we expect schools to perform miracles, we will continue to be bitterly disappointed. Perhaps it is this phony expectation that has created so much anger and frustration among the public. Surely they wonder why all teachers can't be like Jaime Escalante or any of a dozen other miracle-workers.

I was struck, too, by your mention of the journalists who see a miracle where there was none at all. Geoffrey Canada's school, as described by Paul Tough, is one such. It really was a story of Canada abandoning the kids who started at his charter school because they couldn't get the scores he wanted. So out they went. No miracle there!

I think Diane Ravitch is no joke and, with enemies like her, you don't need friends.