Diane Ravitch has come a long way! On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 7:10 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote:
> Steven Brill’s Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s > Schools celebrates the improbable consensus among conservative > Republicans, major foundations, Wall Street financiers, and the > Obama administration about school reform. Brill, a journalist and > entrepreneur, portrays the leaders of today’s reform movement as > heroes. They include Wendy Kopp, who created Teach for America > (TFA) and raised some $500 million for the organization over the > past decade; Jonathan Schnur, whom he credits as the architect of > the Obama administration’s $4.35 billion competition called Race > to the Top; Michelle Rhee, chancellor of schools in the District > of Columbia from 2007 to 2010; Joel Klein, chancellor of the New > York City public schools from 2002 to 2010 and now chief adviser > to Rupert Murdoch; Eva Moskowitz, leader of the Harlem Success > Academy charter school chain; and David Levin and Michael > Feinberg, founders of the KIPP charter schools. > > Brill also lavishly praises the billionaire equity investors and > hedge fund managers who have financed the reform movement, > including Whitney Tilson, Ravenel Boykin Curry IV, John Petry, and > Joel Greenblatt. Brill writes reverentially about their glamorous > world. Curry, for example, > > seems the typical preppy socialite. He and his wife have > homes in Manhattan (Central Park South), East Hampton, and the > Dominican Republic. His father, Ravenel Curry III, also runs a > money fund. He and his wife frequently appear in society columns, > and she’s a well-known high-end interior decorator. > > A graduate of Yale and the Harvard Business School, Curry is > deeply involved in school reform. > > The financiers of public school reform described here live in a > world of spectacular wealth. They believe in measurable outcomes; > their faith in test scores is greater than that of most educators, > who understand that standardized tests are not scientific > instruments and that scores on the tests represent only a small > part of what schools are expected to accomplish. The Wall Street > men have found a cause that is both “exciting and fun” and, as > Curry IV puts it, “because so many of us got interested in this at > the same time, you get to work with people who are your friends.” > It is unlikely that any of them have close personal connections to > public education, yet they have made it their mission to change > national education policy. School reform is their favorite cause, > and they like to think of themselves as leaders in the civil > rights movement of their day, something unusual for men of their > wealth and social status. > > full: > > http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/sep/29/school-reform-failing-grade/ > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Sandwichman
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