Summary and Critique of Diane Ravitch’s “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”

Summary and Critique of
Diane Ravitch’s “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”

Prior to reading this book, I did not know much about Diane Ravitch, her politics, or her analysis of education in America. I was briefly introduced to her when a colleague shared her notable 2010 article in the New York Times entitled, “The Myth About Charter Schools,” after a staff viewing of Waiting for “Superman”. (Ironically, I was working at a new charter school in Philadelphia at the time.) I thoroughly enjoyed her critique and analysis of the perpetuation of myths regarding public education through this highly publicized and highly funded cinematic campaign for charter schools. To say the least, I was curious to dive deeper into her exploration regarding the charter school movement by reading her newest work “The Death and Life of the Great American School System”.
To understand the significance of this work, it must be understood that this text was birthed out of a woman who for decades with an extreme amount of zeal and academic fervor supported the exact reforms and strategies she is now finding antithetical of democracy. In the opening chapter, Ravitch anecdotally describes how she came to understand her new position on public education. She refers to this realization as an “intellectual crisis” and a “wrenching transformation” on her perspective. After completing the book, I would consider this more of a self “weheme mesu” (Weheme mesu is translated from mdw ntr, the language of the ancient Egyptians, as “the repetition of the birth”. This is the first expression of the concept of renaissance in history. See “Reflections on the Revision of The African Centered Paradigm” by Jacob Carruthers.) , more commonly known as a renaissance, of sorts. Her original philosophy has rebirthed. She is again, who she once was. Admittedly, she states that she was swept up in a wave of quick fixes for problems in the education system and as she details in the chapters, various working relationships and political tides of the decades inadvertently caused her to think and act in opposition to her original philosophy on education.
Using the following chapters, Ravitch critically examines the ideological path of charter school and privatization movement. Chapter 2, entitled “Hijacked! How the Standards Movement Turned into the Testing Movement” sheds light on how her professional development coincided with the political views of education reform. Ravitch describes how her work, under President G. H. W. Bush’s administration, to create voluntary national curriculum standards was single-handedly destroyed by Lynne V. Cheney and her accusation that the draft for the subject of history leaned towards political propaganda. This sparked a debate on what, who, when, and where should hold influence in history curriculums nationwide. Once that debate entered the political arena, standards were quickly abandoned and a more favorable accountability measure was pushed: high-stakes testing.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 give explicit examples of how this new focus on reform played out in several noted districts in the United States. Ultimately, these stories do not have happy endings. However, the quick wins that were presented by the several administrations mentioned overshadowed the harsh reality that nothing had really changed for any of the districts. Academic success as heralded in the media by the administration in those districts were the result of data manipulation, staff coercion, and the pupeteering of student populations.
Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the impact of national and local legislation on education. Nationally, No Child Left Behind, enacted in January of 2002 under President George W. Bush, was a school accountability plan focused on strict measurement and severe consequences. President Barack Obama recently reenacted this legislation. Though bipartisan, NCLB has some harsh critics. Ravitch herself saw no initial problem with the system, but now is highly critical in its attempts to foster “proficiency” in mathematics and reading across the country. Even more interesting is the concept of choice and its development in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Washington, DC. Ravitch presents that these new options in the districts did not effectively impact the system as anticipated. The main reason for this was due to the fact that not many families took up the opportunity to use their “choice”. In addition, the rating systems used to determine choice eligibility proved arbitrary and inaccurate in many districts.
The final chapters are a presentation of Ravitch’s analysis of the situation at hand. Discussing her high school teacher, Mrs. Ratliff, she thinks about the concept of a great teacher. As a student, she felt that her teacher was wonderful and in retrospect she suspects that Mrs. Ratliff would not have been as great if she was under all of the regulations and assessments that teachers under NCLB must endure. Teacher accountability is extremely important, but measuring that accountability should not sacrifice the quality of actual learning that occurs in the classroom. However, chapter 10 was the most interesting to me. Ravitch discusses the impact foundation funding has on the national education agenda. This is not surprising considering the history of philanthropy and education from Rosenwald to Rockefeller, the national education agenda has always been in the palms of foundations. Ravitch ultimately argues that the individuals running foundations are having the greatest impact on the reforms that are enacted. The checks and balance system that is the basis of American democratic philosophy ends with philanthropy. What a philanthropist determines with their checkbook, is not up for scrutiny. This is ironic considering that philanthropists are able to write these checks because of tax legislation that was intended to support social welfare. Private donations are essentially public dollars.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I think that Ravitch cleverly used her background in the history of American education as a backdrop for the discussion of current trends. In fact, I am now privy to many concepts in education that I had yet to explore. In addition, Ravitch’s personal narrative describing her “weheme mesu” is important considering her role and relationship to some of the major power players in education. I hope that her presentation in this book may enlighten and even influence individuals who still believe in educational quick wins and quick fixes to think broadly and realistically at the dire situation at hand. Reformers, policy makers, and historians should critically read this text and take Ravitch’s recommendations as a basis for educational revolution in the future.