Diane Ravitch's "Reign of Error: Exposing the Hoax of the Privatization Movement and Its Threat to America's Public Schools

Ángel Zambrano: La autora describe y analiza minuciosamente la importancia del sistema de educación pública norteamericano para su democracia y los ataques de la mancuerna empresarial y autoridades gubernamentales para convertirlo en un negocio más. Al apuntar los principios y cimientos democráticos de la educación pública, la autora da pautas claras para reconstruirla desde una perspectiva humanista. En México estamos viendo está película destructiva con todos los trucos señalados en este gran libro, no falta ni uno, incluyendo la película con los mismos efectos especiales. Un libro muy recomendable para todos aquellos formados en escuelas públicas. Y, por qué no? También para los de la escuela privada y para aquellos que quieren destruirla y engullir a tan venerable institución.

Mexico on Aug 28, 2016

julie dervey: Good book

United Kingdom on Oct 18, 2014

Frank G. Splitt: If you want to know what's really going on with reform initiatives aimed at America's K-12 education system, then this book is a must read. Get the facts about test scores, the so-called achievement gap, The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), high school and college graduation rates, as well as learn about the problem with Teach for America (TFA), the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC), how poverty affects academic achievement, and much more--including solutions based on evidence, not slogans, reckless speculation, myths or manufactured crises.

"Reign of Error" extends and deepens the author's discussion of her changed thinking about education reform that began in 2010 with her book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education." She sees American public schools still facing the threat of reform aimed at the privatization of America's public school. The book also expands on the work of David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle who defended public education in their 1995 book The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the...

United States on Dec 06, 2013

Laurie E. Huberman: I am very sympathetic with everything Diane Ravitch writes, but this book repeated everything many, many times more than necessary, to the point of really annoying me. On the issues, the only aspect left unaddressed and needing to be addressed is the local tax base funding the schools and making them as a result very unequal in their ability to provide a decent educational experience to all. . I am in favor of national standards...we are after all one country....and I believe schools should be funded equally on a per child basis. Local school boards have a role to play, but there can be a lot of reinventing the wheel and making important decisions about schools without the expertise available from those spending their lives studying, researching and working in schools.

France on Dec 06, 2013

D. Smith: Here is a lady who knows exactly the state of affairs in America's public school system and, by implication, the English State system.
A must read for all of those who simply go along with the story that the current Govt and right wing press keep trotting out. The teacher haters among you will just disbelieve it.

United Kingdom on Dec 01, 2013

Angel: This book undoes most of the myths about the current corporate educational reform agenda and exposes, in the US all the destructive policies that Michael Gove is doing in the UK.

United Kingdom on Oct 14, 2013

AnthonyCody: Diane Ravitch has emerged as an iconic figure on America's political landscape. What Daniel Ellsberg was to the Vietnam War, Ravitch has become to the battle raging over public education - a truth-teller with the knowledge that comes from decades on the inside of the education "reform" movement. Her new book, Reign of Error, The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools, goes on sale Tuesday, and reveals a great deal about the nature of the epic struggle raging over the future of public education in America - and beyond.

Ravitch's previous book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, was a breakthrough. An "establishment" figure reviewed the evidence and categorically rejected the dominant reform strategies then on the ascent. What's more, Ravitch called out what she termed the "billionaire boys club" for their heavy-handed attempts to privatize the public schools.

Reign of Error picks up where Death and Life left off. Over the past three years the patterns of corruption and influence have become clear, as has the evidence. Her prose is precise and accurate, and devastating. She does not mince words. The third...

United States on Sep 17, 2013