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Most evenings, I read the papers, go through newsletters, scan my various Google Alerts, and set aside a handful of articles that strike me as worth blogging about. Then one of two things inevitably happen the next morning: 1) work gets in the way, or 2) I find out Joanne Jacobs has already blogged about them.
So here are a couple of blog-worthy stories that…oh, hell…just go to her site and read them.
Over at Fordham’s Flypaper, Andy Smarick posts a remarkable piece that should be tacked to the bulletin boards of would-be ed reformers everywhere. It’s a brief reflection on Diane Ravitch’s 2000 book, Left Back.
If you’re not in the market for a dose of humility, this probably isn’t your bag. If read with an open mind, it’s sobering stuff for hard-charging reformers chock-full of certainty. But part of me thinks it should be required reading for anyone handing out big philanthropic grants or overseeing massive government education programs, especially those dedicated to innovation, like the much-discussed I3 program.
Hear, hear. Diane is a friend, and someone whose work I admired long before I met her, so I will not pretend to be unbiased, but I’m happy to see Smarick come to terms with the work of our greatest education historian and apply it to current efforts in education reform, a field intoxicated with triumphalism at the moment. Blame it on the blogosphere, but it has become too easy for “hard-charging reformers” to dismiss those who decline to ride the bandwagon as in favor of the status quo, ill-informed, enemies or just plain nuts. Diane has been on the receiving end of these slings and arrows in disproportionate numbers in recent years. Just about everyone who blogs on education champions a particular point of view, program or policy. As a historian, Diane doesn’t play favorites and she isn’t on anyone’s side. This drives some people over the edge. That’s their problem, not Diane Ravitch’s
Smarick, to his credit, gets it. “Ravitch’s lesson is a modest, even sage one: We need to avoid new ‘movements’ like the plague and give ‘more attention to fundamental, time-tested truths,’” he writes. And while he still doesn’t agree with her take on charters and assessments, after reading Left Back, “I certainly now better understand the roots of her criticisms of the Race to the Top’s favored strategies.”
My father, a first-generation American with deep blue-collar roots, did not suffer fools gladly. One of his favorite things to tell his son was “I’ve forgotten more than you’ll ever know.” Diane Ravitch has forgotten more about education than most of us will ever know.
130 years ago tomorrow, Thomas Alva Edison perfected the incandescent lightbulb. How much do you know about inventors and inventions? Here’s this week’s Core Knowledge Quiz:
1. Which of the following did Edison NOT invent or perfect: the phonograph, the motion picture camera, the stock ticker, or the microphone?
2. The earliest form of writing, using clay tablets and a reed stylus, emerged in the Sumerian civilization. What was this form of writing called?
3. The compass, gunpowder, and paper money were the products of which ancient civilization?
4. It is often said that Alfred B. Nobel bequeathed his fortune and created the Nobel Prizes to improve his reputation, which was damaged by his controversial invention. What was it?
5. Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company are widely credited with “inventing” the assembly line, but the first U.S. patent for the process was awarded to another carmaker. Who?
6. Which African American inventor discovered over 100 commercial products that could be made from peanuts and was dubbed a “Black Leonardo” by Time Magazine?
7. Put these inventions or technological developments in chronological order: the light bulb, the telephone, the internal combustion engine, the airplane.
8. What invention or advance in transportation are each of the following people associated with:
9. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 helped to make cotton cloth cheap and plentiful, which contributed to the rise of slavery as cotton production boomed in the American South. What exactly did the cotton gin do?
10. Many inventors names are familiar to us today because they have become familiar brand names for the products they helped develop. Which inventors are associated with the following products?
Answers below:
Linda Perstein, former Washington Post writer and author of the standout ed book, Tested, has launched an ed blog. The Educated Reporter launched Monday, a year and a half after Perlstein was named public editor for the Education Writers Association. What to expect?
My job is to help improve coverage of education, through direct coaching of journalists and broader commentary. So a blog makes all kinds of sense. I find myself taking up issues on EWA’s internal listserve and in our newsletter that I realize people outside the organization might like to hear about. When I have a story idea to suggest, or when an oft-repeated myth needs debunking—no, states do NOT build prisons based on third-grade reading levels—or when a report comes out I know reporters will be calling about, I’ll have a place to share.
Welcome to a real pro.
