Re: Weapons of Mass Instruction

["William Cala" <wcala@rochester.rr.com>]

Jerry Bracey said:

"My, my, my.  This is quite a turn about for Jim Harvey.  Only a couple of
years ago, he was still mouthing all the oh-ain't-schools-awful rhetoric."

God, I just love epiphanies.

Bill

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "gerald w. bracey" <gbracey@erols.com>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: [arn-l] Weapons of Mass Instruction


> My, my, my.  This is quite a turn about for Jim Harvey.  Only a couple of
> years ago, he was still mouthing all the oh-ain't-schools-awful rhetoric.
>
> I do have to laugh when he says in his article that "about 30 of us"
walked
> into Reagan's office with "A Nation At Risk."  The document credits Jim as
> being on the staff, but he was really a hired gun writer and was generally
> credited with coining "a rising tide of mediocrity" and the other cold
> warrior rhetorical flourishes that adorn the opening paragraphs.
>
> Jerry
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William Cala" <wcala@rochester.rr.com>
> To: <arn-l@interversity.org>; <ACTNOW2003@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 10:33 AM
> Subject: [arn-l] Weapons of Mass Instruction
>
>
> TESTS: WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION
>
> James Harvey thinks we've badly missed the boat on school reform,
>
> misjudging everything from what's required to what it will cost. He views
>
> the No Child Left Behind Act as unmistakably hostile to teachers and
>
> school administrators. In his view, "Tests have become the nation's latest
>
> weapons of mass instruction." He writes that federal officials are now in
>
> a position to make decisions that would have been unimaginable even two
>
> years ago. They've established the criteria for disciplining schools,
>
> removing principals and teachers, and even defining appropriate curriculum
>
> for American classrooms. What surprises Mr. Harvey is that this truly
>
> radical reversal of respect for local school control has been put in place
>
> with scarcely a peep of protest. Harvey offers four common sense ideas for
>
> school reformers and points out that learning takes place in a lot of
>
> places besides schools -- and that a genuine reform strategy would worry
>
> about them all.
>
> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/134688604_harvey04.html
>