Sandwichman <[email protected]> wrote:
>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 > >_______________________________________________ >pen-l mailing list >[email protected] >https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
