06 Jul 2005 - 18:28

Daniel Willingham's Amazon review of 'Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform'

I've just discovered a Daniel Willingham review of Diane Ravitch's Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform:

What makes this book so interesting is Ravitch's documentation that "Progressive" education has been progressing in the same direction for over 100 years. The same ideas are rediscovered again and again, and those seeking to reform American schools have been fighting the same bogeymen (drilling, teacher as "sage on the stage") with the same rhetoric (teach the student, not the subject) for just as long. The book is at its best in showing that these ideas have been recycled numerous times.

The long history of progressive education in this country tells me that we simply must take matters into our own hands.

The math wars aren't going to be won; at least, not by us.

The math wars will go on and on, and will always be new, like an episode of The Twilight Zone.

We have to teach our kids ourselves.

And we have to find, or invent, the resources that will help us do it.

Back to main page.

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