>
> On Jun 10, 2011, at 8:34 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
>
> > It is quite obvious that the push for school reform comes, in a large
> > part, from the parents who treat education as a credentialing service
> > selling passes to successful yuppie careers.
>
> No it doesn't. Where did you get this from? School "reform" is intended
> mainly for the children of the poor. The point of the comparison is that
> children of the elite are subject to none of that crap - and even in better
> suburban districts, like Arne Duncan's Arlington County.
>
> Doug
>
Wojtek's consumerist argument, "the push comes from parents" not only gets to subjects behind - and objects of - "reform" wrong it fails completely in political terms given how obvious it is that the push for school reform comes not from parents but from those seeking to discipline teachers and destroy unions of all sorts. As Ravitch has repeatedly said, what schools need - and yes, Carrol, I know this is only at the level of reform politics - is national curricular restructuring and more money with that more money intended to increase teacher pay, to increase the quality of educational infrastructures and to respond to the changing lives of students, families, etc.