AN UNFAIR ATTACK

This is exactly what I expected Ravitch to write: a total distortion of the facts, more mud-slinging, claiming to be the victim of an unfair, vicious attack (something she knows all about!), I will not be silenced, etc.  If I didn't know the real story -- and, sadly, most people don't -- I might even be sympathetic.  But I'm not.  As I wrote yesterday (http://edreform.blogspot.com/2007/11/feud-twixt-wylde-ravitch-laid-to-citys.html), she got exactly what she deserved.

I HAVE been writing about schooling for 40 years, but have never experienced an attack as intemperate as the one by Kathryn Wylde  ("Hypocritical Critic, PostOpinion, Oct. 30).
 
This attack, I have learned from published accounts, was orchestrated by the New York City Department of Education, which compiled a secret dossier about my views and turned it over to Wylde. I am at the top of the Department's enemies list. This is a frightening way for a public agency to behave.

"Secret dossier", "Department's enemies list" -- sounds like a cross between J. Edgar Hoover and the Gestapo, which is exactly what she intends, but it's a load of nonsense.
 
She writes: "I think I have earned the right to express my views about education."  Nobody questions that.  Where she went off the rails is pursuing an obvious personal vendetta -- when you cross that line, it's entirely fair for someone (in this case, Kathy Wylde) to point that out.  
 
Notice that Ravitch doesn't really rebut anything Wylde wrote -- just tries to lamely explain away her vast inconsistencies.
 
I'm quite convinced that it didn't matter what the DOE did: Ravitch was determined to attack it.  This article, in fact, is a great example, as she writes utter foolishness like this:

I am appalled  that schooling in this city has degenerated into little more than testing and preparing for more testing. This is decidedly not great education!...  
 
The leadership of the Department of Education has no  educational vision.

No vision?!  That's absurd.  I am entirely open to a discussion with someone who says, "I am deeply troubled by the vision, direction and on-the-ground execution of the DOE in its attempts to reform and improve public education in NYC."  Now that's a reasonable statement that can be discussed on its merits.


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AN UNFAIR ATTACK
EDUCRATS CAN'T SILENCE THIS SCHOOL CRITIC
By DIANE RAVITCH
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11012007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/an_unfair_attack_287233.htm?page=0

 
November 1, 2007 -- I HAVE been writing about schooling for 40 years, but have never experienced an attack as intemperate as the one by Kathryn Wylde ("Hypocritical Critic, PostOpinion, Oct. 30).
This attack, I have learned from published accounts, was orchestrated by the New York City Department of Education, which compiled a secret dossier about my views and turned it over to Wylde. I am at the top of the Department's enemies list. This is a frightening way for a public agency to behave.