Reaching for the Ideal
CORTINES, RAMON
Reaching for the Ideal Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms By Diane Ravitch Simon & Schuster. 557 pp. $30.00. Reviewed by Ramon Cortines Former New York City Schools Chancellor;...
...copies of single issue published nearest lo filing dale, 0 e Free Distribution Outride Ihe Mail (Carnets or other means...
...Andhere is Du Bois, defending an academic education for black children: "The object of a school system is to carry the child as far as possible in its knowledge of the accumulated wisdom of the world...
...It is my belief that we should be concerned less with the precise content of the curriculum and more with preparing teachers to deliver high quality instruction...
...12.210 No copies of single issue published nearest to filing dale, 11.215 j Percenl Paid and'or Requested Circlulauon I I5e/]5g\ 100|- Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 93 % No copies of single issue published nearest lo filing date, 94% 16...
...But I have found that far larger numbers of teachers are reluctant to change, at least until they are persuaded the new approaches will benefit their charges...
...Issue Dale for Circulation Data Below Scplember/Octobcr 2000...
...I've sat in on many of those discussions in New York and Los Angeles and San Diego and Fayette County, Kentucky, and countless other places...
...They bring to life a tradition that persisted throughout the 20th century and is often overlooked in other treatments of the subject...
...It was able, she says, to "convey important knowledge and skills, cultivate esthetic imagination, and teach students to think critically and reflectively about the world in which they live...
...New York 10001 Editor Myron Kolalch...
...0 e Tolal Paid and/or Requested Circulation (Sum of!5b 11), (2...
...Against this tide stands a cast of sensible individuals attempting to keep the main mission of the public schools academic . They include scholars such as William Torrey Harris, W. ?. ?. Du Bois, William Chandler Bagley, Isaac L. Kandel, Charles H. Judd, Admiral Hyman Rickover, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., and E. D. Hirsch Jr...
...Most educators know better than to trade in a good thing for a promise...
...The opportunity to hear these voices is one of the most illuminating aspects of the book...
...Street Vendors...
...William Henry Maxwell, the superintendent of New York City schools in the early 1900s was an early advocate for poor children, arguing that they were as capable of learning as their more wealthy counterparts...
...Thru science, it will rid his mind of superstition and error—those soul-destroying and energy-destroying forces that reduce strong men to the helplessness of infancy...
...The historical account is valuable and entertaining...
...It is a fundamental truth," she writes, "that children need well-educated teachers who are eclectic in their methods and willing to use different strategies depending on what works best for which children...
...Average number of copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 175 No...
...Primary among them are the opening of public education to vast numbers of children previously denied access (including whole groups based on race and class), increasing public investment in and commitment to public schools, and the development of innovative curriculum and instructional strategies...
...They are purposeful exchanges, focused on teaching and learning, and I am firmly convinced the vast majority of the educators involved have the will necessary to do what it takes...
...Left Back then catalogs successive efforts to chip away at the ideal with schemes that have been Utopian or anti-intellectual or both...
...Ravitch therefore saves her highest praise for the likes of Carleton Washburne, the superintendent of schools in Winnetka, Illinois, in the 1920s...
...If not owned by a corporation, give the names and addresses of Ihe individual owners If owned by a partnership or other unincorporated firm, give its names and address as «ell as that of each individual owner If (he publication is published by a nonprofit organization, give ils name and address) Full name American Labor Conference on International Affairs, Inc., 275 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10001, Shelley Appleion, President, 275 Seventh Avenue...
...Despite these criticisms, I am sympathetic to Ravitch's call for all students to receive a rigorous education...
...From a practitioner's point of view, I find it helpful to have the views of liberal education's champions articulated...
...The first, comprising the bulk of this volume, is a historical narrative of efforts over the last 100 years to reform American public schools...
...We need to help those teachers be smarter about their choices...
...Maxwell, however, ultimately bowed to political pressure and instituted a differentiated curriculum...
...We will only take the next steps toward a powerful system of public education when we have a capable force of teachers and administrators permitted to make judgments about how to help students meet common standards...
...Contaci Person ? Shapiro Telephone: 212-S07-8240 8 Complete mailing address orheadquarters or general business office of publisher (not primer...
...New York 10001 Managing Editor None 10 Owner (If the publication is owned by a corporanon, give the name and address of (he corporation immediatly followed by the name and addresses of all stockholders owning or holding 1 perccnl or mora of the tolal amount of stock...
...Ravitch recounts the history of the American academic ideal: liberal education, "the systematic study of language and literature, science and mathematics, history, the arts, and foreign languages...
...To call the last century's efforts to improve American education a failure is to ignore many important successes...
...To me, 'knowledge' is defined as a sense of knowing things other than the area of a triangle, such as what goes on in one's community...
...One of our greatest challenges in public education is to encourage American teachers to integrate the best thinking about curriculum and pedagogy into their practice...
...10,180 d. Free Distmbulion by Mail (Samples, complimentary, and olher free) (1) Outside-CoiiDly as Slated on Form 3541 Average No copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 350 No copies of single issue published nearest to filing date 325 (2) In-County as Slated on Form 3541 Average No copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 260 No copies of single issue published nearest to filing date...
...Thru literature and art, it will reveal the finer and more subtle forces which dominate human motives and so often determine human conduct...
...Ravitch also overemphasizes the sound and fury of school reform rhetoric...
...275 Seventh Avenue...
...But I do not believe my GPA is an accurate representation of my full 'knowledge.' I believe 'knowledge' goes beyond the boundaries of academics...
...I believe 'knowledge' is acquired not only through academic excellence, but also through experiences within society...
...Particularly since so many states have adopted standards for learning, schools and districts have been forced to explore ways to meet them...
...3), and (41 Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 monlhs, 10,420 No copies of single issue published nearest to filing date...
...His accomplishments earned him a full scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as the promise of support during his time there...
...11215 b Paid and/or Requested Circulation 1 Paid/requested Outside-County Mail Subscnpuons Staled on Form 3541 linclude advertiser's proof and exchange copies) Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 months...
...1 Tille of Publication The New Leader, 2. Publication No 00286044 3 Filing Date Seplember 30, 2000 4 Frequency of issue Bimonthly except for January/February Number of issues published annually 5 6 Annua) subscription price' Ï42.00 7 Complete mailing address of known office of publication (noi prmler)' 275 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10001 7B...
...copies of single issue published nearest lo filing dale, 1.795...
...and lie) Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 monlhs, 785 No copies of single issue published nearesl to filing dale, 610 g. Tola) Distribution ISum of 15c jjtd 15G...
...New York 10001, Mitchel Levitas, Secretary...
...None 12TaxSlalus For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at special rales The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for Federal income lax purposes has not changed during preceding 12 monlhs 13 Publication Name The New Leader...
...By World War II, American schools had become an enormous sorting machine: They prepared a relative few for college and the promise of advanced learning, while sending the rest into various vocational tracks...
...In her desire to ensure that all students are exposed to the substance of a liberal education, she does not attend adequately to the technique of teaching...
...In a reflection on high school, he wrote: "Each ?' I received on my report card fueled my drive to do well...
...Ravitch also usefully highlights a few educational leaders who bucked the mainstream of reform...
...425 ? Tolal iSum of 15g...
...I agree...
...1,920 No...
...140 (3) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 monlhs, 0 No...
...As proof, she points to the curriculum and achievements of American common schools in the mid-1800s...
...275 Seventh Avenue, New York...
...1.460 No copies of single issue published nearest to filing date...
...Horace Mann and company had it right...
...She also urges us to attend to "timetested truths...
...New York 10001...
...One of those people was a student who overcame great personal odds to succeed academically in high school and served his community as well...
...If my four decades as a teacher and administrator have taught me anything, it is that large numbers of teachers absorb reform into their habitual practice...
...For instance, here is Bagley, during a debate before a National Education Association meeting in 1914, espousing the benefits of a liberal education for the student: "Thru the study of history, it will give him a time-perspective upon his own life and upon the issues of his generation which he must help to meet...
...This student embodies the true purpose of education: to prepare students as knowledgeable and contributing citizens...
...4 Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 monlhs, 0 No copies of single issue published nearesl lo filing date...
...Mental testing, progressivism, vocational education, program differentiation, child-centered education, the activity movement, the life-adjustment movement, multiculturalism, whole-language, constructivism—all are shown to have degraded the academic curriculum...
...Washburne, she notes, retained the good of the progressive movement— attention to the needs of each child, group work, creative assignments—without sacrificing the academic curriculum as the goal for all students...
...Statement of Ownership...
...These experts have driven a stake in liberal education, leaving it weakened and, what is worse, available only to a small fraction of students...
...It is her atypical examples that make Ravitch's history so compelling...
...and h (Average no copies each issue durai g preceding 12 months...
...Praising such institutions for their clear sense of purpose, she glosses over the inequality of access and the questionable pedagogy that characterized education at the turn of the last century...
...275 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York 10001 II Known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders owning or holding) per ceni or more of lotal amount of bonds, mortgages or other seeunües...
...Yes, there are the "joiners" who reach for trends, subjecting students to education fads not rooted in solid research or experience...
...He spoke out against the various efficiency experts who inundated the schools with untested fads, chiding them that they "would do well to try out their theories on the work of their college and university colleagues before applying them to the common schools...
...Barbara Shapiro, Business Manager, Seplember 30, 2000 | cemft that all information furnished on this form is true and complete...
...Though I deeply respect her work and the work of other historical scholars who help us understand how we got the institutions we have, most of the lessons I have learned about education come from the students, parents, teachers, and administrators whom I have known in my four decades in the education business...
...1,350...
...copies (Net Press Run...
...None were small feats...
...The culprits are the professional educators who hijacked public schools in the early part of the century and have been in control ever since...
...all get short shrift in the author's calculus of success and failure...
...But unlike Ravitch, I have seen that happen in a number of public school districts around the country...
...9 Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor Publisher' American Labor Conference on International Affairs, Ine, 275 Seventh Avenue, New York...
...Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution Average no copies each issue dunng preceding 12 months...
...7.040 No copies of single issue published nearest io filing date, 7.035 2. Paid In-Counry Subscriptions [Include advertisers' proof copies and excliange copies) Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 months...
...S latement of Ownership will be pnnled m ihe Sepi ember/October 2000 issue of this publication...
...Subsequent reforms have only served to further muddle the curriculum and to widen the gulf between the haves and have-nots...
...3 Sales Through Dealers and Camers...
...Ravitch writes that America has never had a golden age in public education, yet her description of the common school and its embrace of liberal education betrays a wish to return to those early days...
...Indeed, Left Back is best seen as two related yet distinct works...
...Average no copies each issue during precedin g 12months, 12,210 No...
...It is quite a leap, however, from Ravitch's historical account to her conclusions that school reform has failed and that "anything in education that is labeled a 'movement' should be avoided like the plague...
...copies of single issue published nearest to filing dale, 145 f Total Free Distribution iSum of ISd...
...Finally, I think Ravitch pays too much attention to content...
...The second, consisting of a short concluding chapter, is a plea for communities to restore a "lost sense of purpose" to our schools...
...Average no copies cash issue during preceding 12 months, 11.205 No copies of single issue published nearest 10 filing date, 10,790 h. Copies not Distributed Average no copies each issue during preceding 12 monlhs, 1,005 No copies of single issue published nearesl 10 filing dale...
...Executive Director, Pew Network for Standards-Based Reform, Stanford University That Diane Ravitch is at once a historian and an advocate is plainly evident in her newest book...
...I 7. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, Or Owner...
...15 Extent and nature of circulation a Tolal no...
...several of the conclusions, though, strike me as rather grandiose and go well beyond the evidence presented...
...It is a purpose that I would argue has never really been lost, but it certainly needs our nurturing...
...Left Back argues that schools have lost their purpose...
...copies of single issue published nearest to filing date...
...Management and Circulation...
...It is another fundamental truth that adults must take responsibility for children and help them develop as good persons with worthy ideals...
...She reminds us that the core of our work must be teaching and learning, even as the schools have been asked to take on so many other functions...
Vol. 83 • September 2000 • No. 4
