Education Historian Diane Ravitch Explains the Threat Posed by the Privatization of Public Education

Education Historian Diane Ravitch Explains the Threat Posed by the Privatization of Public Education

Diane Ravitch’s latest book, The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and can be ordered through your local bookstore, check IndieBound.

Education historian Diane Ravitch explains the threat posed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the privatization of public education.

Diane Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at New York University and a historian of education. She is also president and co-founder of the Network for Public Education, with 350,000 followers. She blogs at dianeravitch.net, which has had more than 32 million page views since she started it April 26, 2012.

From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education to Lamar Alexander in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. She was responsible for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, where she led the federal effort to promote the creation of voluntary state and national academic standards. From 1997 to 2004, she was a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress. She was appointed by the Clinton administration’s Secretary of Education Richard Riley in 1997 and reappointed by him in 2001. From 1995 until 2005, she held the Brown Chair in Education Studies at the Brookings Institution. Before entering government service, she was Adjunct Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

In 2011, she was honored to receive the Daniel Patrick Moynihan award from the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Her last two books were national bestsellers, and she received the Grawemeyer Prize in 2014 for The Death and Life of the Great American School System. She has received 12 honorary degrees.

Diane’s Latest Book, The Wisdom and Wit of Diane Ravitch (Garn Press)

Diane Ravitch is a lightning rod in American Society. She is a fearless defender of public education as the foundation stone of democracy. In this unique collection of her most important writings, Diane Ravitch provides remarkable insights into her seminal thinking on public education, and on the dangers to democracy of treating parents as consumers, students as products, and teachers as compliant followers of commercial scripts. In the following pages, you will encounter some of Diane’s most inspired and insightful writings full of the wit and wisdom that have made her an icon among teachers, community leaders, students, and activists concerned with preserving public education.

“This book is a lively look at history as it unfolds, in the voice of the most reliable narrator of our time. Thanks to Diane for writing it.” - Anthony Cody, author of The Educator and the Oligarch

“Diane’s record of scholarship and activism sets a powerful example for us to get involved and stay involved until the fight is won” – Yohuru R. Williams, Professor of History, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota

“Ms. Ravitch…writes with enormous authority and common sense” – New York Times

“In an age when almost everybody has an opinion about schools, Ravitch’s name must be somewhere near the top of the Rolodex of every serious education journalist in this country” – The Nation

“Flashes of inspiration, snippets of thoughts, bursts of criticism and humor. They’re perfect for perusing and really quite addictive.” Steven Singer, author of Gadfly On the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform

“Ms. Ravitch [is] the country’s soberest, most history-minded education expert” – Wall Street Journal

Diane Ravitch, Author News, World NewsGarn PressOctober 15, 2019