Ravitch's pseudo-apology -- and her true nature revealed

I don't have time for a full email right now, but Jay Greene's latest writings on Ravitch's VideoGate are worth their own email.  Having been caught in a big lie, Ravitch is scrambling to limit the damage, but is just making things worse – and she STILL won't release the video!  Hopefully this saga will wake at least some people up to the truth about Ravitch, which Jay Greene captures perfectly here:

respectable people — people who should know better — have been treating Diane Ravitch as if she were a serious person.   She isn't.  I don't know whether she has experienced a mental breakdown, has become intoxicated by her new celebrity, or was never a serious person.  Respectable people should be wary.

There are far more serious people out there who have concerns about the influence of wealthy foundations on education policy, who doubt the benefits of school choice, accountability testing, and merit pay, and who would be willing to be interviewed to say as much.  I'm not saying these views are ridiculous.  I am saying that the unsupported, unthoughtful, and hypocritical way in which Diane Ravitch expresses these views is ridiculous.  And ridiculous things are deserving of ridicule.

 

Here's Ravitch's pseudo-apology:

when I came home, I reflected on a blog I wrote recently about my visit to Rhode Island. In that blog, I wrote harsh words about state Commissioner Deborah Gist. On reflection, I concluded that I had written in anger and that I was unkind. For that, I am deeply sorry.

Like every other human being, I have my frailties; I am far from perfect. I despair of the spirit of meanness that now permeates so much of our public discourse. One sees it on television, hears it on radio talk shows, reads it in comments on blogs, where some attack in personal terms using the cover of anonymity or even their own name, taking some sort of perverse pleasure in maligning or ridiculing others.

I don't want to be part of that spirit. Those of us who truly care about children and the future of our society should find ways to share our ideas, to discuss our differences amicably, and to model the behavior that we want the young to emulate.

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What I Learned at Siena

By Diane Ravitch on May 24, 2011 9:06 AM | 23 Comments | Recommend

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2011/05/what_i_learned_at_siena.html