Amy Ione Online

One of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read was Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa Delpit. A MacArthur fellow and educator, Delpit argues that many minority students are erroneously labeled “underachievers” due to failures of communication between teachers and students. Delpit’s persuasive arguments for balancing creative thinking with structured learned came to mind when I saw that Diane Ravitch, an education historian who built her intellectual reputation battling progressive educators and served in the first Bush administration’s Education Department, is, according to a recent New York Times article, in the final stages of an astonishing, slow-motion about-face on almost every stand she once took on American schooling. Ravitch has reversed her position on reform strategies she once advocated, like standardized testing and charter schools. This has angered critics and heartened admirers. The New York Times article on the evolution of Diane Ravitch’s thinking is here.