<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><DIV>The statement is just boilerplate. Until you find out what it really means, it means anything or nothing. For her, it still means an unwillingness to provide a moral and factual basis to be critical, for example, of American empire; e.g. her statement post 9/11. They almost certainly have not changed as part of her new persona.</DIV>
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<DIV>DG<BR></DIV>
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<B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Morton K. Brussel <brussel@illinois.edu><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> David Green <davegreen84@yahoo.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Cc:</SPAN></B> Peace Discuss <peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Thu, April 29, 2010 11:30:59 PM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> Re: [Peace-discuss] Diane Ravitch Revised: A Critique of Contrition<BR></FONT><BR>
<META content=off http-equiv=x-dns-prefetch-control>I have long reviled Ravitch's words and stances on educational policy, but I find nothing ill in the quotation below. It may be "banal", but it rings true, and I do not see the connection here to her<FONT class=Apple-style-span size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px" class=Apple-style-span> "long-term neoconservative promotion of 'cultural literacy' as the basis for a standardized curriculum". I think this statement, unargued, is a non sequitur. </SPAN></FONT>It smacks of ideological rigidity.
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<DIV>--mkb</DIV>
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<DIV>On Apr 29, 2010, at 8:21 PM, David Green wrote:</DIV><BR class=Apple-interchange-newline>
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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Thus in the concluding “Lessons Learned” chapter of<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><I>Death and Life<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></I>she banally asserts “Education is the key to developing human capital. The nature of our education system will influence society far into the future. It will affect not only our economy, but also our civic and cultural life. A democratic society cannot long sustain itself if its citizens are uninformed and indifferent about its history, its government, and the workings of its economy.”</DIV>
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<DIV style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">This is hardly the stuff of insight or inspiration, but is consistent with Ravitch’s long-term neoconservative promotion of “cultural literacy” as the basis for a standardized curriculum.</DIV></SPAN></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV>
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