[Peace-discuss] Diane Ravitch Revised: A Critique of Contrition

[Morton K. Brussel]

No everything or every topic, even concerning education, needs to allude to America's empire.…

You have not put forward any compelling reasoning for your assertion on this particular issue.

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.

 --mkb

On Apr 30, 2010, at 7:25 AM, David Green wrote:

> 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.
>  
> DG
> 
> From: Morton K. Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu>
> To: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>
> Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Sent: Thu, April 29, 2010 11:30:59 PM
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Diane Ravitch Revised: A Critique of Contrition
> 
> 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 "long-term neoconservative promotion of 'cultural literacy' as the basis for a standardized curriculum". I think this statement, unargued, is a non sequitur. It smacks of ideological rigidity. 
> 
> --mkb
> 
> On Apr 29, 2010, at 8:21 PM, David Green wrote:
> 
>> Thus in the concluding “Lessons Learned” chapter of Death and Life 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.”
>>  
>> 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.
> 
> 
> 


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