Diane Ravitch Knihy

From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, Slaying Goliath is an impassioned, inspiring look at the ways in which parents, teachers, and activists are successfully fighting back to defeat the forces that are trying to privatize America’s public schools. Diane Ravitch writes of a true grassroots movement sweeping the country, from cities and towns across America, a movement dedicated to protecting public schools from those who are funding privatization and who believe that America’s schools should be run like businesses and that children should be treated like customers or products. Slaying Goliath is about the power of democracy, about the dangers of plutocracy, and about the potential of ordinary people—armed like David with only a slingshot of ideas, energy, and dedication—to prevail against those who are trying to divert funding away from our historic system of democratically governed, nonsectarian public schools. Among the lessons learned from the global pandemic of 2020 is the importance of our public schools and their teachers and the fact that distance learning can never replace human interaction, the pesonal connection between teachers and students.

Dokumentárně pojatý román z prostředí newyorské střední školy. Americká autorka zde na příběhu svědomité učitelky, kterou žáci zpočátku s nelibostí přijímají a s níž se nakonec neradi loučí, a formou autentických, mnohdy útržkovitě řazených úryvků z rozhovorů mezi žáky, meziučiteli a žáky, citátů z úloh a citátů z žákovských dopisů líčí svérázné pojetí demokracie mezi učiteli a žáky a v řadě veselých i vážných situací karikuje mechanické abyrokratické řízení živého vyučovacího procesu formou oběžníků, výnosů a nařízení, jak si je představuje vedení školy a nadřízené úřady.

A passionate plea to preserve and renew public education, this work represents a radical change of heart from one of America’s leading education experts. The author, a former assistant secretary of education, reflects on her career in education reform and renounces positions she once strongly supported. Drawing on over forty years of research and experience, she critiques popular ideas for restructuring schools, such as privatization, standardized testing, punitive accountability, and the proliferation of charter schools. She demonstrates why the business model is unsuitable for improving education. Using examples from major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, she argues that public education is in jeopardy. The author offers clear prescriptions for enhancing America’s schools: decisions about schools should be left to educators, not politicians or businessmen; a true national curriculum should outline what children should learn at each grade level; charter schools must prioritize educating the neediest students rather than competing with public schools; teachers should receive fair wages instead of merit pay based on flawed test scores; and family involvement in education should be encouraged from an early age. This work is essential reading for anyone invested in the future of American schooling.