<html><head><base href="x-msg://1665/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">No <i><b>everything</b></i> or every topic, even concerning education, needs to allude to America's empire.…<div><br></div><div>You have not put forward any compelling reasoning for your assertion on this particular issue.</div><div><br></div><div>As for Ravitch, I don't know her mind. Is it inconceivable that she has changed her spots? You don't consider that. Of course, you have a right to be suspicious, but that is unpersuasive one way or the other.</div><div><br><div> --mkb<div><br><div><div>On Apr 30, 2010, at 7:25 AM, David Green wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">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><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> </div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">DG<br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><br><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; font-size: 12pt; "><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">From:</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Morton K. Brussel <<a href="mailto:brussel@illinois.edu">brussel@illinois.edu</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">To:</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>David Green <<a href="mailto:davegreen84@yahoo.com">davegreen84@yahoo.com</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">Cc:</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Peace Discuss <<a href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a>><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">Sent:</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Thu, April 29, 2010 11:30:59 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold; ">Subject:</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Re: [Peace-discuss] Diane Ravitch Revised: A Critique of Contrition<br></font><br>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 class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "> "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. <div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--mkb</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">On Apr 29, 2010, at 8:21 PM, David Green wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font: normal normal normal medium/normal Helvetica; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: times, serif; font-size: 16px; "><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">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><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "> </p><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; ">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></div></div></div><br></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></blockquote></div><br></div></div></div><br />--
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