Gates v. Ravitch

Lost in the smoke and mirrors of WikiLeaks and the Federal Reserve's admission of massive financial infusions to foreign banks and domestic corporations was a curious dialogue in the Washington Post between Bill Gates and Diane Ravitch (shown at right).

They are an interesting contrast. Gates has embraced the "cause" of "education reform," while Ravitch has sharply questioned the "reformers'" logic and tactics.

Ravitch's position has made her a target for the classist "reformers." Newsweek's Jonathan Alter had this observation regarding the scholar who was once the American right-wing's intellectual darling on education:

(Gates') biggest adversary now is Diane Ravitch, a jaundiced former Education Department official under George H.W. Bush, who changed sides in the debate and now attacks Gates-funded programs in books and articles. Ravitch, the Whittaker Chambers of school reform, gives intellectual heft to the National Education Association’s campaign to discredit even superb charter schools and trash intriguing reform ideas that may threaten its power.

The school debate has shown, among other things, that the classist crowd does not brook dissent. Opposing views are turned into opportunities for vilification, as Alter aptly demonstrated by characterizing Gates' intellectual nemesis as "jaundiced" and a "Whittaker Chambers." Liberals have smugly asserted this style of mudslinging was something only conducted by uncouth right-wingers from backwoods states. Well, take a good look at the left side of the polemical road. It's not very savory.

It's also not very bright. The education scare is just as phony as the 50s Red scare was, an irony lost on Alter. Shameless spectacles, including Mark Zuckerberg's publicity stunt involving Newark schools and NBC's propagandistic "Education Week," were considered contributions to education progress. The big business interests swarming over educational institutions are rarely mentioned. Rupert Murdoch's brazen commercial dance with the New York City school system was noted, and quickly forgotten, in the wake of WikiLeaks.

Diane Ravitch's articulate point of view might help us salvage something from this mess. Her intellectual distinction and her disposition to speak her mind enable her to rally the routed, to slow the rush to judgment, and to enable cooler heads to prevail. We need that voice of reason now.

The photograph on the left (no pun intended) shows Bill Gates sitting between Waiting for Superman director Davis Guggenheim and Michelle Rhee on a recent Oprah Winfrey program.

Facebook Comes to Newark -- Part Three

Yes, there's more to "Facebook Comes to Newark" than meets the eye.

11. Keep in mind that Oprah Winfrey has embraced Rhee for her "reform"

of the Washington, DC school system. Rhee's record is a controversial one; her actions were a principal reason why Adrian Fenty recently lost his bid for re-election as DC mayor. Yet, Rhee has now been placed on a pedestal, positioned as human sacrifice for the cause of education reform. She will also be out of work shortly and, in the Great Recession which The New York Times has declared over, unemployment can have a permanent feel. Rhee fits the Booker-Christie pact's needs very well. She will not hesitate to be the hatchet for the draconian "reform" policies heading Newark's way. And Booker will be able to appoint Rhee without going through the local political rituals.

How? The state of New Jersey technically runs the Newark school system. In order to swing this political coup, Christie (as is his right under state statute) named Booker his "special assistant to the governor" for education. That move opens the door for high-profile, profound changes in Newark's educational bureaucracy and management of teachers. That includes appointing Rhee (or anyone else) as superintendent, changing rules, expanding charter schools, and basically turning Newark into the educational equivalent of a laboratory animal. Curiously, this situation is what Booker and Christie, for quite different reasons, want.

12, If Rhee becomes superintendent, expect a top-down management, non-consultative management style from her. (Read Thursday's Washington Post for Diane Ravitch's critique of Rhee, her hubris, and that of the reform steamroller. Ravitich's piece originally appeared in Education Week. ) This approach fits Booker's political agenda for Newark quite nicely. It also fits the "reform" agenda of imposing change on teachers and education bureaucrats, an agenda that has taken emerged in other areas of the country. It was notable that the Zuckerberg "gift" was donated without any input from the Newark community, except Booker. For a "community-based solution," such as charter schools, to simply pass by the affected community seems like a luxury car on its way to Washington passing an exit on the New Jersey Turnpike without stopping, slowing down, or caring about the community it just passed in the rear-view mirror.

One ironic twist to this story is that Newark's current superintendent, Clifford Janey, used to hold the same job in Washington, DC. His replacement? Michelle Rhee.

12. So what does Mark Zuckerberg see in Newark schools? The question, along with the students, parents, and community, quickly get lost in the blinding light and deep shadows of more prominent players, larger agendas, and complex motives. Zuckerberg's Trojan Horse, filled with cunning power players, has been brought into the gates of a city exhausted from psychic and physical siege. (Today's shameless New York Times article that essentially lifts Zuckerberg into the pantheon of American philanthropy is part of this equine package.) To paraphrase what the Lester Freamon character said on The Wire, "follow the money, and there's no telling where you'll go."

PS. Leading black and white photo was shot by Beth Dow. Image to the right is the earliest known representation of the Trojan Horse detail from the neck of a mid-7th Century BC Cycladic relief-amphora found on Mykonos.