The words ‘hero’, ‘heroic’ and ‘heroism’ are overused in America. Think, for example, how often those words are tossed around in reports about athletics, as if running with a football and dunking a basketball were acts of heroism. People talk about ‘everyday heroes,’ as if doing your job every day–even a tough job like teaching in the inner city–was heroic behavior.{{1}}
We need to be more discerning in our use of those words. We shouldn’t be so quick to crown people as heroes, because doing so dilutes the meaning of heroism.
Deep down, a lot of people realize this. I say this because nowadays the word ‘genuine’ is often attached to the word, as in “She’s a genuine hero.”
Most of us will never–knock wood–know if we have what it takes to be a hero. We will never face a raging fire, roaring flood waters, or a crazed gunman and have to make a split-second, life-or-death decision.
The teachers and administrators at Sandy Hook Elementary Schools–those who lived and those who lost their lives–are heroes. They exemplify the best in the education profession, and they remind us of how good and strong people can be.
Those were my words on Saturday night in Washington while presenting an award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences to the teachers of Newtown. I have no doubt about their heroism. When they were tested, they responded heroically.
But I also have no doubt that we toss around that word, hero, far too easily. For example, Ted Cruz, the US Senator from Texas, is a hero to some on the extreme right because of his strident opposition to Obamacare. Over on the left, Diane Ravitch is a hero to those who share her views on what is happening in public education. Since when does taking a strong public stand qualify as an act of heroism? Call them ‘crusaders’ or ‘principled leaders’ or some other term of approval if you wish, but not heroes.
I believe many people are uncomfortable with the way ‘hero’ is used. Here’s my reasoning: When a noun needs modifiers, it’s a clear signal that the word has lost its original meaning. Take ‘politician’ as an example. This word is rarely unadorned these days. Someone is a ‘thoughtful politician,’ ‘unconventional politician’ ‘not your typical politician,’ ‘a well-respected politician,’ or (shudder) ‘an honest politician.’ Enough said.
I think that is what has happened with ‘hero.’ Because of our culture of excess and a glut of ‘heroes,’ the noun is routinely modified. We have ‘genuine heroes,’ ‘everyday heroes,’ ‘unassuming heroes,’ ‘hero worship’ and–of course–’Super heroes.’
So I am wondering how many of us have (genuine) heroes in our lives. Do you? Are there living people you identify as your heroes? The only person who comes easily to my mind is Nelson Mandela.
An older friend told me that he didn’t have any living heroes, and he doubted whether most people did these days, because of the 24-hour news cycle and the power of the internet to allow everyone to dig up dirt on anyone of prominence. No one can keep their feet of clay (or their sex tape) hidden for long, he said.
Some say we need more heroes in our lives, but I am more comfortable with “role model” than with ‘hero.’ There’s a long list of role models whose positions, behavior or humanity I wish to emulate. I respect and admire these men and women, even though I know they are not perfect human beings.
Perhaps I am just getting crotchety as I get older, but I would like to see us tone down our language. I am pretty certain that the same people who idolize Ted Cruz or Diane Ravitch are equally vehement in their disdain for anyone who dares to disagree with their hero (and them). These people inhabit a comic book world without ambiguity where heroes require villains. Our society makes it easy to live in a black-and-white world without nuances–you can watch either Fox or MSNBC, but not both!
Unfortunately, the hero/villain polarization can cause us to lose sight of all the good, decent (and flawed) people who are trying to make the world a better place. Polarization not only doesn’t move the ball forward; it’s a step backward.
In his speech accepting the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education Tuesday night, Dave Levin of KIPP reminded us that fixing public education was “messy” work. Extreme positions weren’t effective, he told us. “Should we use test scores to assess students and teachers?” he asked? “Yes,” he said, “but we have to have lots of other measures as well.” He called it “the messy middle” where the work is hard and the job is never done.
I know what Levin is talking about. My colleagues and I spent 6 ½ long years documenting the struggle to rebuild New Orleans’ schools after Hurricane Katrina and the flooding. On October 22, “Rebirth,” our 1-hour film will premiere nationwide on Netflix (and will be live-streamed for 24 months in nine languages). I am sure it will inflame those on the extremes, both left and right, because it fails to either completely endorse what is happening there or to condemn it outright. It’s that “messy middle” that Dave Levin was talking about.
There are no silver bullets, Levin said, and I agree. Moreover, searching for them, like hero-worship, is a waste of precious time and energy.
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[[1]]1. CNN has an annual competition for the Top 10 unknown everyday heroes of the year. The winners for 2013 will be revealed on October 10th.[[1]]
The Merrow Report 
John,
I am not sure where to start with this.
You ask your reader for who their heroes might be. But then the thrust of your piece is to preemptively impugn anyone who might choose Diane Ravitch as their personal hero, by suggesting that “the same people who idolize Ted Cruz or Diane Ravitch are equally vehement in their disdain for anyone who dares to disagree with their hero (and them). ”
So those of us who indeed do admire Diane Ravitch greatly must first fend off your assertions about our intolerance.
For the record, I would count Diane Ravitch as one of my heroes. She has had the strength of character to examine the evidence and reject prior beliefs. Other people have had changes of mind, but she has pursued the evidence to explore and uncover real deceptions that have been sown about our schools and the teaching profession.
There is a real battle taking place over the future of our schools. Great harm is being done to the institution of public education, as we see neighborhood schools closed, and the teaching profession mechanized and micromanaged through ever more frequent tests. Diane Ravitch has emerged as someone able to place this battle in the context of the last century of American education history, and provide a clear map as to what is happening, and who the players are working the levers of power.
The real people working in the “messy middle” are the teachers and students who have been the subjects of this unprecedented series of experiments in market based reforms. Teachers who have seen the standards and tests change on an almost yearly basis, and who now must be evaluated based on test scores. Students who are being tested to death, and face ever more difficult tests under the misguided notion that somehow failing more of them will enable more of them to succeed.
Teachers get to choose their own heroes, fortunately, and the thousands showing up to hear Diane Ravitch speak about her latest book in the weeks to come will no doubt make their own views heard.
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Well said. It’s easy to tell who the real heroes are in education: the teachers who choose to be with the children each day. And Diane Ravitch is THEIR hero!
The American people are not stupid. In the end, they will side with the people willing to do the job.
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Well said, Anthony Cody. I am shocked that Merrow would sideswipe Dr. Ravitch. Aghast, in fact.
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Anthony is exactly right, thank you for making clear how ridiculous and offensive Merrow is to analogize Diane to Cruz. Merrow’s tack is an old rhetorical ploy through which a speaker represents herself/himself as the reasonable, sensible middle while characterizing others as irrational, feral, dangerous. “Nut jobs to the left! Nut jobs to the right!,” this rhetoric declares. “Follow me to the sensible muddy middle where the reasonable people are.” Sen. Cruz has earned nut job status but to liken Diane to him as a radical is pure insult and distortion. The ploy of the middle was used in 17thC English politics when conservative politicians claimed they were like “trimmers” on boats whose carefully placed weight prevented the ship from veering too far in either direction. Merrow portrays himself and KIPP as this phantom middle but to do so he has to slander Diane, and the rest of us.
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“Merrow portrays himself and KIPP as this phantom middle but to do so he has to slander Diane, and the rest of us.”
And KIPP students as well. When did boot camp for kids become middle of the road? That might be the sentence imposed by the courts for minors who’ve engaged in serious criminal activities, but it should not be considered appropriate just because children are poor and Black or Hispanic, as the majority of KIPPsters are. Military style schools for children are extreme, not the happy medium.
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Mr Merrow,
I was with you until you in our observation that we use certainly words like hero too freely until you gratuitously added, “Over on the left, Diane Ravitch is a hero to those who share her views on what is happening in public education. Since when does taking a strong public stand qualify as an act of heroism? Call them ‘crusaders’ or ‘principled leaders’ or some other term of approval if you wish, but not heroes.”
As we know, the traditional definition of heroic is “behavior or talk that is bold or dramatic” and an individual of “distinguished courage or ability, admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities” is referred to as a hero.
For those reasons and more, Diane Ravitch is a hero. She is certainly a hero of mine and I have absolutely no reservations when it comes to recognizing her as a hero.
She has displayed extreme courage, conviction and wisdom in her ability to see and speak the truth. Of course in today’s political pandering driven world, speaking the truth might itself be called heroic.
As an academic and policymaker, she studied the issues and the data and changed her position on vitally important issues. The ability to become enlightened and then use that understanding to stand up and speak out is nothing short of heroic; that is true in the academic world and especially in the political world.
Finally, as a Connecticut resident and admirer of teachers, I’m offended that you’d twist the context to try and compare the heroic actions of the Newtown teachers and the heroic actions of Diane Ravitch.
It goes without saying that we are talking about fundamentally different situations.
Heroic actions come in a variety of different forms, many of which arenot associated with trying to protect children from a gunman.
Personally, I’m fond of saying that if President Eisenhower was alive today, he would be warming us of the education industrial complex.
The warning would be apt because people like Rupert Murdoch openly admit that they see public education in the United States as a $500 billion market.
Considering the financial and political resources that are being utilized by the corporate education reform industry to push their agenda, I truly believe that Diane Ravitch is a hero and her actions on behalf of our nation’s children, teachers, schools and parents is heroic.
Considering some of the heroic work you have done as one of our nation’s leading journalists, I’m disappointed that you see her differently.
But I can say, with certainty, that in this case, you are wrong.
Diane Ravitch is a hero. On that I have no doubt.
Jonathan Pelto
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Hero to me too. She has what it takes. She fought for things that she thought would improve life for students, and when it went the other way, she stood for the students she wanted to help all along. She is not a good old boy; that makes her a hero. She didn’t start in the left. I’d say she was now in the middle following what research shows, open to do what is best rather than just standing behind something because she once thought it would be good. Look at what has happened to education in the last 13 years. Not good for children or other living things. Education should not be on the national political spectrum. Right and left shouldn’t matter. What is good for children should matter. Fighting poverty should matter. Privatization of public education should not obliterate the truth.
Diane Ravitch for Secretary of Education!!
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sorry typing to fast – meant to open with
“I was with you in your observation that we certainly use words like hero too freely until you gratuitously added, “Over on the left, Diane Ravitch is a hero to those who share her views on what is happening in public education. Since when does taking a strong public stand qualify as an act of heroism? Call them ‘crusaders’ or ‘principled leaders’ or some other term of approval if you wish, but not heroes.”
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Hero. That is exactly what Diane Ravitch is to millions of public school teachers across the United States. Hero. Because she seems to be the lone voice who truly understands what is happening as profiteers attempt to take over our schools. Hero. Because she isn’t afraid to go up against the huge corporations which hold our children hostage and treat them as commodities. Hero. Because she is letting America know that politicians are lining their pockets with Pearson money and turning their heads so that false failure through flawed tests is created in order to sell a cure.
Hero. Because for the first time in 3 years I have had a glimmer of hope that finally, FINALLY someone who has public attention is telling our story. If you loved your profession as much as I have loved mine, Sir, and watched it become systematically destroyed – you would be waiting for a hero too.
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Your last sentence brought tears to my eyes. Perfectly stated!
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Merrow probably has been watching as “journalism” as we think we know it has been dying to be replaced by the internet.
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Me, too.
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Thank you, from another teacher.
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Well done, John.
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What is well done Joe….explain…stop trolling on blogs bashing Diane while also bolstering yourself with your stories about I, me and my. It’s all about Joe always.
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Praising Merrow, who made a short-lived attempt to undo the damage he promoted in his effusive praise for Michelle Rhee by actually investigated what a fraud she is, but then chickened out and whined to critics that they should complIn to some other people, is really telling, Joe.
Linda calls you out below for exactly what you are about. Hard to tolerate your splooge, but it pales beside Merrow’s bilge above. He shows his true colors. . . And they are sick-making.
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Isn’t Beth Hawkins breathlessly awaiting a call from you Joe?
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Sorry, but I have no tolerance for those who are trying to destroy public education. None. And I have great respect for people who put themselves on the line to defend public education against those who want to destroy it. Are they heroes? I don’t know. What I do know is that Dr. Ravitch doesn’t have to be doing what she is doing. She could have retired and not opened herself up to the attacks that she is now getting with the release of her new book, “Reign of Error”. I greatly admire that since too many people don’t even take the time to get involved. I have a feeling that if Dr. Ravitch supported the “reporting” you did in New Orleans you would not have singled her out in this item. You could have dealt with any criticisms she may have about what has happened in New Orleans, but instead you decided not to “tone down the language” and single Dr. Ravitch out. How does that get you closer to your goal?
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I think we’re allowed to define “hero” as we choose, so I reject the idea that we have to submit to someone else’s definition.
For starters, it’s REALLY hard for people to admit they’ve been wrong. (John Merrow, I give you credit for publicly admitting your former admiration for Michelle Rhee was misplaced, to say the least. In fact, you had to admit to being duped by her lies and the “reform” sector’s lies, which is really tough.)
Anyway. Ravitch has indicated that relatively late in life (given that 75 is the new 55), she felt an obligation to committing herself to combating and (we hope) reversing the destruction wrought by the policies she formerly championed.
After taking a huge amount of flak from “reform” sector mouthpieces funded by billionaires (who may or may not actually believe what they’re saying, given that they’re well paid to say it, but that’s another story), she responded to their professed concerns by thinking through and articulating a positive vision of public education, rather than purely working to combat and reverse destruction.
Ravitch has also been subjected to on ongoing barrage of vicious, unfounded personal attacks from those paid reform “sector” mouthpieces. I’d defend her against those attacks in a more specific way, but she has made it clear that she’d rather move on and discuss her message. I’m just adding that fact to the discussion, though.
If you position her against Mandela and say there’s a bright line somewhere between Ravitch and Mandela, you aren’t going to define her as a hero, but that’s your personal bright line and no one else has to accept it.
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Sorry… but there is NO analogue on the left to Ted Cruz… and Diane Ravitch, who seeks to put facts in front of the public, is certainly not deserving of any comparison to Ted Cruz.
Moreover,those who follow Diane Ravitch’s blog are hardly in lockstep with ALL her views… I’ve thrown a few rejoinders her way in the comment section and many others have as well. Diane Ravitch speaks truth to power and doesn’t pander to her readers or the education establishment.
Diane Ravitch’s willingness to change her mind about education policy when the facts undercut her principles is what makes her a hero in my eyes. Sadly, too many of our political leaders like Ted Cruz ignore the facts when they contradict their principles. As a result we have faith-based shouting on both sides of the aisle instead of reasoned discourse based on reality.
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Diane Ravitch is not a “crusader” – she is a truth-teller. She is heroic only because she speaks out against those employed in mainstream media who obscure the truth and intentionally mislead the public. We are witnessing the hijacking of public education by corporate interests in collusion with politicians. You may not wish to be labeled a hero. No worries there. With this column, you are firmly in the corner of whatever the opposite of hero might be – a banal bystander, a bully, a wimp? Our children deserve the schools that Diane Ravitch is fighting for. She is fighting against a powerful slew of bipartisan interests with only some open-eyed parents and the ever-silenced, much-maligned teachers as her chorus. Shame on you for labeling her “leftist.” I am shocked – and I really didn’t think anything could shock me anymore.
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“Shame on you for labeling her ‘leftist.'”
Diane is so far “left” that she is right!!
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Seriously John? She is a hero, you’ve been bought, admit it. Diane is so transparent and incredibly generous with her knowledge. I have kids in public school and I cannot believe what is happening. I am patient though and pretty bright, so I understand what is happening with the media and am toiling away in a grassroots movement. It may be too late for my kids but i fight for their kids and their kids’ kids. This is one of the most important movements in our history. It’s the Ravitch Revolution, so there, she is a hero and there’s no fight like a parent’s fight for their children. Are you feeling OKAY?
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Mr. Merrow,
I am rather perturbed by the unnecessary attack on Diane Ravitch. For many educators, she is a hero. I see nothing wrong with having a hero who stands up for what she believes in– she stands up for the millions of teachers and students who have been left voiceless by the sweeping corporate education reforms. For several years now, I have been sensing this unwelcome wave, but didn’t quite know how to explain it or how to make the connections; Diane Ravitch found it for me, and it is very empowering to finally understand what is going on and finding solidarity with other educators who are also alarmed and appalled by the state of education today. You name Nelson Mandela as a hero, and rightly so, but I don’t believe that he ever took a bullet for a child or fought a fire or raging floods, which seem to be your criteria for a “genuine” hero. Diane often writes about issues for which Nelson Mandela fought, such as equity, segregation, and poverty. If Nelson Mandela can be your “genuine” hero, why can’t Diane Ravitch be ours?
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One key difference between Diane Ravtich and Ted Cruz: Ted Cruz has essentially never changed his mind. His college-age views are his current views. That’s what the man’s bios show.
And what does such an unchanging set of viewpoints remind us of?
For me, it reminds me of the corporate reformers, who keep pushing and pushing and pushing the same “reforms”, and despite evidence that frequently shows these “reforms” to be fool’s gold, they keep pushing and pushing and pushing them.
Ravitch has clearly demonstrated a broad base of knowledge on education over a long period of time, and when the facts and her conscience intervened on the set of viewpoints she used to hold, she yielded, and I say, very bravely.
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Exactly. The thing I admire most about Diane Ravitch is not that her current views agree so much with mine (although I am often in agreement with her, me from my perspective of 20 years on the ground in the classroom, her with her wealth of historical context and thoughtfully comparative data) as that she did what scientists are supposed to do, but that far too few public policy makers actually do: she adjusted her theory to account for the actual data, rather than adjusting the data to fit her theory. She changed her mind based on real evidence, and then she had the courage to publicly say so and to try to make up for the damage of the previously wrong views. Her work is not based on faith (except perhaps for a faith in people’s ability to learn and reason). We can quibble about the word “hero” (I’m not sure for what purpose — just to distract people from the message in Reign of Error, perhaps?), but to equate those who admire Ravitch with anti-fact, anti-evidence, utterly faith-based folk like Ted Cruz is just wrong.
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Diane Ravitch speaks for all of us who have given our lives to public education. We are under corporate attack, threatening teaching as a profession. Our beloved schools are being co-opted for private takeover to line the pockets of the wealthy at the expense of our most vulnerable students. We don’t match the reformers’ deep pockets, but we will fight them tooth and nail to protect our kids and our communities. Diane is one of us- and a highly respected educator. She speaks truth to power.
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Incredible. To believe that you have the audacity to tell us who our own personal heroes can be. Diane Ravitch is a personal hero of mine because of her tireless pursuit of truth and exposing the corporate take over of public education. How much did the “rheeformers” pay you to lambast Dr. Ravitch? I think it’s time that you look at the facts and find out that the wealthy corporate lap dogs are staging an all out assault for that very important dollar.
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Diane Ravitch is my hero. Not because the term hero has been diluted and I find heroes everywhere, but because her work is so very admirable that she is one of just a few heroes that I admire. John Merrow’s attack on Ravitch is so nonsensical that it must have some ulterior motive.
Perhaps Mr. Merrow is taking a swipe at Diane Ravitch because of this blog post:
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/09/12/john-merrow-why-he-wont-cover-rhee-anymore/
What say you, Merrow, are you bitter that Diane called you out for giving up on your investigation of Michelle Rhee and DC schools?
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Mr. Cody says it the best:
John,
I am not sure where to start with this.
You ask your reader for who their heroes might be. But then the thrust of your piece is to preemptively impugn anyone who might choose Diane Ravitch as their personal hero, by suggesting that “the same people who idolize Ted Cruz or Diane Ravitch are equally vehement in their disdain for anyone who dares to disagree with their hero (and them). ”
So those of us who indeed do admire Diane Ravitch greatly must first fend off your assertions about our intolerance.
For the record, I would count Diane Ravitch as one of my heroes. She has had the strength of character to examine the evidence and reject prior beliefs. Other people have had changes of mind, but she has pursued the evidence to explore and uncover real deceptions that have been sown about our schools and the teaching profession.
There is a real battle taking place over the future of our schools. Great harm is being done to the institution of public education, as we see neighborhood schools closed, and the teaching profession mechanized and micromanaged through ever more frequent tests. Diane Ravitch has emerged as someone able to place this battle in the context of the last century of American education history, and provide a clear map as to what is happening, and who the players are working the levers of power.
The real people working in the “messy middle” are the teachers and students who have been the subjects of this unprecedented series of experiments in market based reforms. Teachers who have seen the standards and tests change on an almost yearly basis, and who now must be evaluated based on test scores. Students who are being tested to death, and face ever more difficult tests under the misguided notion that somehow failing more of them will enable more of them to succeed.
Teachers get to choose their own heroes, fortunately, and the thousands showing up to hear Diane Ravitch speak about her latest book in the weeks to come will no doubt make their own views heard.
by anthony Cody on Sep 25, 2013 at 3:55 pm
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Most of the “reformers” are paid, funded and employed to push those “reforms,” Steve Magruder. Of course at the top of the chain, wealthy and powerful forces are funding them, and the “reformers’ ” great fear has to be that those forces will lose their faith and the funding will stop flowing.
That’s why they try so hard to intimidate people like Dr. Ravitch, and also why they undoubtedly (in my view) have threatened John Merrow forcefully enough to get him to stop reporting on Michelle Rhee. Of course he denies that, but if he’s been threatened, he obviously can’t acknowledge it.
Follow the money.
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I accept your position, as it was already mine.
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With the exception of Joe Nathan, I second all of the above comments. I remain dumbfounded that a man of your intelligence, a man who was capable of doing such fine and objective investigative work in the examination of the DC cheating scandal could possibly make such a ham handed comparison between Ravitch, who always does her very best to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to Cruz who quite likely can no longer recognize such truth as anything other than an inconvenience. Your extremely sloppy conflation of left vs. right with those who pursue the truth and are fully willing to be guided by it with those for whom the truth must be avoided at all costs is appalling and inexcusable. Shame on you. An immediate correction is in order.
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Hi,
First of all, sorry for my English. I am writing from Madrid, Spain.
I am surprised to see Diane Ravitch listed as somebody trying to get more attention than she deserves.
I follow Ms. Ravitch’s twitter account and blog. I bought and read her book a few days ago. She provides information which is valuable here, even though our education systems are different. Other people in other countries know about her work and resonate with her ideas. She works hard to explain her convictions and she uses data. Her last book is filled with charts and statistics.
I don’t think she is trying to get an attention she doesn’t deserve. I think she is trying to help people understand that public education deserves people’s attention.
I don’t think becoming “famous” at her age can be considered a demonstration of vanity. As an informed journalist, you can probably name 2000 people in search of fame before her name comes to mind, most of them 50 years younger.
When you write:
“the same people who idolize Ted Cruz or Diane Ravitch are equally vehement in their disdain for anyone who dares to disagree with their hero (and them)”
it sounds as if agreeing with Diane Ravitch’s ideas was an act of fanatism. But I am no fanatic. She is not my hero. I just admire her work. If somebody uses the word “hero” in a way you think is not right, you should blame those who say “hero” before picking on those being called “heroes”.
If you don’t agree with her, it would be better to know what you think different and why, like she has done in her book. But instead you put her aside, as an extremist, with no further explanation, while presenting yourself a reasonable person. This is especially sad after some politician called her “evil” days ago.
I understand writing in a blog is not a slow research process. Perhaps it took you just a few minutes writing this entry. I just think you should be careful when making such negative comments.
Thanks for reading.
Pedro Sarmiento
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This is odd. Would you consider Ravitch an extremist had she not changed her views from what they once were to what they are now?
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Mr. Merrow, I strongly object to your juxtaposition of Ted Cruz and Diane Ravitch in the same sentence as examples of pseudo-heroes. As other commenters have clearly articulated, Diane Ravitch is a seeker after truth and a speaker of truth. That she had the audacity to turn her back on her compatriots because she looked squarely at the evidence and saw that the consequences of testing, accountability by test scores, and choice were undermining our vital public education system, branded her a traitor when she should have been praised as a patriot. The corporate education reform juggernaut is one of the most ill-founded and dangerous sets of policies to descend on America. The “reformers” have billions of dollars at their disposal, and stand to profit by billions more. Diane Ravitch is one of many highly knowledgeable and principled authors who are standing up to this unnecessary disaster befalling our children, OUR CHILDREN! She deserves tremendous credit for this. Whether or not she is a “hero” is a matter of opinion, but please do not use her as an example of a too cavalier use of the word. The stakes are too high.
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Diane is a hero for standing against the powerful.
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Exactly.
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John, do you need an Ironman fix lol?
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Diane Ravitch has written the most important book about public education in the last ten years, a carefully researched and argued critique of the dominant trends in education policy in the US that resembles Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” in the force of its arguments and its ability to reshape debate. To compare a scholar of Dr Ravitch’s accomplishments to a Senator of little not leading a filibuster is a cheap shot at best, and at worst a cynical attempt to get people to a voice coming to grips with her arguments. I expected better of you, but perhaps that was excessively optimistic. There are quite simple no people who operate within our major news outlets who are prepared to reveal the vice grip that the Big money people who fund their networks have on shaping education policy. These comments are not worthy of a journalist of your stature, but perhaps I overestimated that stature. This is a shameful moment in American history when every major new outlet decides to gang up on the most distinguished education scholar we have in this country
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John,
I am really shocked. Perhaps you ARE getting crotchety as you get older. I thought you were just doing your job when you reported on the D.C. test score scandal, but I thought it was heroic a bit too, though I didn’t think to use the word at that time, since it is a rather unpopular story to tell. I thought Adell Cothorne was a hero for sure, because she stood up for what she knew was right at great personal cost to herself. I hadn’t thought to call Diane Ravitch a hero really, but now that you mention it, she is one to me. Until she started that blog I came home from work everyday and cried. I have found work easier and life happier since we found a leader for our fight to save public education. To me, yes, she’s a hero. My life is better because of her. I wouldn’t still be teaching if it wasn’t for her. That blog she writes is what I read every day and it helps me face yet another miserable day of reading from the script they give us and guiding students through mounds of test prep. While I go to work she spends her day standing up for what is a very unpopular view. Trying to make Diane sound like the extreme left doesn’t put her there. I think Levin is no hero and I definitely do not think he is a centrist, but I do understand that to someone he probably is and to others he may be nothing. I think you should get out of the business of deciding who is a hero and who isn’t.
I have a lot of heroes… and role models…. And for me, Diane Ravitch is certainly both.
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What comes immediately to mind is Teddy Roosevelts immortal statement ” The credit goes to the man in the Arena…”. Dr. Ravitch is in the Arena and cowardly critics attack her. She is one of my heroes. Your audacity and ego to determine who is heroic and who is not is mind boggling.
Jim Spellman
Groton, CT
jspell1010@gmail.com
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I actually don’t care what John Merrow thinks..he sold his soul a long time ago. Who cares what he thinks? I shall unsubscribe to this spam.
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How disappointing, John….do I detect the rancid smell of resentment due to jealousy? When you put down Diane Ravich, you put down her dedicated army of contemporaries who soldier on against Murdoch-like privatizing efforts to undermine our system of public education.
Diane champions the children of America, and so she is a hero.
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John,
Please issue a retraction and apology. I’d then ask you to remember that anyone can give a speech embracing the “messy middle.”
But, that’s not the big point. Please stop this quick. We all cross lines and as long as we’re able to say we are sorry, no harm no foul.
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I do not know Ted Cruz. I have known Diane for many years and like and admire her. However, my blog is not about either of them. My subject is the elevation to heroic stature–and the accompanying demonization of anyone who disagrees with the new hero’s position.
I don’t think I have many readers on the political right, but it’s easy to imagine them saying,”How dare you compare Senator Cruz to that Ravitch person.”
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“However, my blog is not about either of them.”
That is false. By setting up the bogus analogy and repeating it as one of your key tropes, the post is “about” both of them. Also, there’s plenty of subtext connected to the Diane Ravitch blog that’s easily uncovered through a “close reading” of the post.
“My subject is the elevation to heroic stature–and the accompanying demonization of anyone who disagrees with the new hero’s position.”
That isn’t really true either. There isn’t much evidence related to elevation and demonization. There’s just the extended quote at the beginning, Ravitch and Cruz, MSNBC and Fox, something about adjectives, and an anecdote about a friend and some musing. Rereading this I’m finding it pretty incoherent, and I’m concluding that the embedded material is intended to carry more weight than the putative main topic.
Okay, here’s something: “Extreme positions weren’t effective, he told us.” This isn’t at all about elevation and demonization, but it does serve to frame Diane Ravitch’s viewpoint as extreme (supposedly analogous to Ted Cruz’s extreme viewpoint). And it is in the context of advocating that teachers be evaluated in part by student text scores (which, in case you haven’t heard, is a thoroughly invalid practice).
“I don’t think I have many readers on the political right, but it’s easy to imagine them saying,’How dare you compare Senator Cruz to that Ravitch person.'”
Just another red herring. The post is loaded with this sort of thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
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The comparison isn’t the problem. The problem is that you said neither Cruz nor Ravitch should be considered heroes, and anyone who regards either of them (or anyone who hasn’t faced down a loaded gun or run into a burning building) as a hero is misguided. Cruz, Ravitch, or any other person need not face down mortal danger to be lauded as a hero.
Ravitch is a hero to many, many people–just read the comments here. Ted Cruz has never blogged about you, but Diane Ravitch has, so something more seems to be going on with your original post. You are an education journalist, so you can take pot shots at Ted Cruz all day without causing a stir, but when you take a shot a Diane Ravitch, people who follow education have to wonder why you are trying to tear her down with such nonsense.
What is your agenda, John? Payback to Ravitch for some of her criticisms of you, trolling for education reform foundation money, or what?
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John, You elevated the promoter of military style education for minority children to the status of hero yourself by falling for, agreeing with and endorsing the “messy middle” label Dave Levin ascribed to his approach. That’s pure propaganda. There is nothing middle of the road about demanding that children of color be subservient all day long to their (mostly white) charter school teachers. Do you really think Martin Luther King Jr. would consider minority compliance the happy medium? Wake up and get a grip, for God’s sake!
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Better yet, ask your hero Mandela what he thinks about the imposition of military tactics on minority children. Not to mention segregation.
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A very weak defense sir. You are sniveling and It is evident that not one person, except for Joe, finds what you wrote at all edifying!
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Joe is his own hero. He uses Diane’s blog to slap himself on the back for his work in charter school expansion, even though charter schools siphon funds from public schools, their expansion places public education at peril and Diane is fighting to save public education. Joe is very fortunate that Diane’s is open to allowing opposing viewpoints, including from someone who is so unappreciative of getting free advertising space from her.
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Mr. Merrow,
You write, “These people inhabit a comic book world without ambiguity where heroes require villains.” I personally found that insulting.
Maybe it is just me, but anytime anyone starts a sentence with “These people” it is usually insulting. Couple that comment with “comic book world” and you’ve managed to insult parents everywhere.
Perhaps, that was your point?
Well, because we parents are not living in a comic book world. We are living in a world of rigorous accountability for our children and high stakes testing all the way down to Kindergarten. I am not sure what comic books you read, sir, but that’s not the world we parents want for our kids.
And, when you spew these insults under the guise of journalism, it becomes obvious why we look at Ravitch as a hero. In fact, I think you just made your own point for yourself : “Polarization not only doesn’t move the ball forward; it’s a step backward.”
#HowsThatWorkingForYou?
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Crotchety? Possibly. Senile. Maybe. Bought and paid for. Absolutely. Dr. Ravitch is the sole voice speaking truth to power in defense of public education and the teachers who have committed their lives to the profession and to our children. THIS mom in Florida has watched the game up close and personal since Jeb and his merry band of privatizers started defunding our schools and punishing our children and schools with more and more testing and less and less electives, specials, librarians, and teacher autonomy. To even breathe Dr. Ravitch’ name in the same sentence as Ted Cruz is almost laughable if it wasn’t so ridiculously transparent as to who owns you. While she is doing good work in her later years in hopes of leaving a legacy of good fully funded and sane public education, you are spending yours carrying water for the reformers. I hope whatever they are filling those buckets with is worth it. My kids are suffering under a grand experiment in education not developed or created by educators. I just see another white male angry that a woman is fighting back and is on the right side. Heroine…. Absolutely.
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You couldn’t be more incorrect about Diane. Our public schools are perhaps the last vestige of what remains of democracy in this country. They have never faced a threat like they do today from the out of control deformers, whose only goal seems to be about making money off of our nation’s school children. Privatization of our schools must be stopped! Diane leads the charge against this madness.
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“For example, Ted Cruz, the US Senator from Texas, is a hero to some on the extreme right because of his strident opposition to Obamacare. Over on the left, Diane Ravitch is a hero to those who share her views on what is happening in public education.”
I do not have a problem with you objecting to Ted Cruz and Diane Ravitch being considered heroes. You want the definition saved for people who save lives or risk their own lives for others. I can respect your discussion of semantics. I do object to your dismissal of Diane as “over on the left.” Ted Cruz is a proud tea party representative who is standing up to what I assume he believes is the right action for our country. But he is an elected official and that is his job. Diane is absolutely not “over on the left” from what I can tell. I have been following her work for several years and can make a case that she is one of the few non-partisan voices in the public school debates. If you look at her views on questioning the Common Core ( since it does not have an evidence base) or her views on using student test schools for teacher evaluations you would find those views are supported by our supposedly liberal president and Secretary of Education. So does that mean she is also a tea party supporter or a conservative republican? Please do not contribute to the mischaracterization of individuals on one side or the other of the political spectrum in the public school debate. That is the problem- both sides are taking the money and trying to destroy public education. You could be the voice of reason in the debate and take on both sides if you wanted. As an investigative reporter I have been hoping you or someone would take on ALEC and the oligarchy we have trying to buy our government, prisons, and schools. Please- we need you to be a hero Mr. Merrow. Not be part of the problem.
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Dr. Ravitch is a respected academic with a strong publishing history. She investigates, she reflects, she holds up her own thinking for us to see. Hero? Yup. A thinking-person’s hero. Someone who’s always reading and thinking and questioning and writing.
Why does this threaten you? You who fell, hook, line, and sinker, for a self-serving, headline-hogging, money-grubbing taper-of-children’s-mouths.
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Wow. Looks like Mr. Merrow will be welcomed with open arms at Education Nation. And MSNBC is promoting privatization every bit as much as FOX. Pathetic excuse for a column. I know a teacher who died at Sandy Hook. Diane Ravitch honors her and all teachers by advocating for the whole child, the kind of education that the rich afford their own and deny others. Be accountable, Mr. Merrow. This was an ineffective, inaccurate & insulting piece,.
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“Perhaps I am just getting crotchety as I get older, but I would like to see us tone down our language. I am pretty certain that the same people who idolize Ted Cruz or Diane Ravitch are equally vehement in their disdain for anyone who dares to disagree with their hero (and them). These people inhabit a comic book world without ambiguity where heroes require villains.”
I don’t think you’re becoming crotchety. Cynical and demagogic maybe, but not crotchety. A crotchety person can’t help being crotchety. A cynical person is calculated in his use of logical fallacies and other shady means in trying to achieve some ulterior goal. A demagogue appeals to popular biases in order to make his point. Like labeling Diane Ravitch a leftist, and accusing her growing audience of a total lack of discernment. If you don’t realize these claims are off base, I’m “pretty sure” you’re losing your marbles. But no, I don’t think you’re losing your marbles. I think you know exactly what you’re doing.
You’re trying to smear a scholar with a valid point of view and a ton of evidence to back it up, but you’re not doing it by responding to her work. Not only are you placing her on a false political spectrum, you’re drawing a false analogy between her and an obstructive politician with a very thin resume and a boatload of ambition, if not facts. Ted Cruz is very good at manipulating the English language, though. So, apparently, are you. Why are you so much like Ted Cruz? Okay, I’ll retract that association, but I hope you get the point.
Back in March of last year I called Diane one of my “current heroes.” She still is. She fits the definition of hero because of her courage and achievements, but also because she’s willing publicly to challenge the conventional wisdom. Yes, she’s also one of my current heroes because I generally agree with her both her critique and her “crusade,” but if you believe her readers are mostly mindless idolaters, I’m “pretty sure” you’re the one living in an alternative world. But of course, I’m pretty sure you don’t really believe that, although it may be in your interest to say you do. That doesn’t make you a villain, but the way you’re trying to frame these issues is a clear attempt to marginalize a valid point of view. And that’s bad.
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John,
Something is missing in your blog “Do We need More Heroes?” I believe it’s journalistic integrity. The comparison you make would be funny if you were just a guy off the street. You are a published author. Hold yourself to a higher standard, PLEASE. Did you not check the background, the experience, the education of the two peolpe you compared?
How do you compare Ted Cruz’s profit making (on well underperforming schools), personal opinion, and dearth of educational experience with Dr. Ravitch’s vast experience, education and yes, actual verifiable facts, ones that matter. You need a less educated audience, if you want credibility with this post.
May I suggest you do some real research? See what the reformers have done in the classrooms. It’s not a pretty sight. Do you have the stomach to go into these rooms and really look? And you know what? Despite it all, there are many heroes in these under supported classrooms all across America. And they are thankful that Diane Ravitch speaks for them.
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Mr. Merrow,
Prof. Ravitch might not be valued by McGraw-Hill (publisher of tests and testing materials. Surprise!) but she is the hero to the people who care enough about education to be with our children each day.
Yes, this woman threatens the moneyed interests who have their eyes sharply focused on K-12 tax money, but I never guessed that you were one of them. How terribly disappointing!
Dr. Ravitch and teachers will win this fight, because in the end the public will always side with the people in the classrooms.
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Yes, John, I will confirm your suspicions. You have definitely grown old and crotchety.
The Democrats may have a paucity of liberals today, but couldn’t you think of even ONE actual left-leaning politician to pit Cruz against? Diane Ravitch is a historian and advocate for public education, not a politician. Pitting her against Cruz was downright cruel.
Many people see Ravitch as a hero because she has the courage to admit she was wrong, tries to right her errors, is committed to improving public education for all children and she is willing to take battering on a daily basis for taking a stand against destructive policies. Why you thought she deserved your comparison with the hate-mongering Cruz is beyond me.
If you accept Dave Levin’s military style education, which promotes immediate compliance for children of color, as the acceptable “messy middle,” then you have absolutely no idea what your own hero, Nelson Mandela, represents. I’ll take the humane supposedly lefty approach represented by Ravitch, because she cares about equity, over that hot mess any day.
I think you need to make amends. And stop acting like an old fogey when you clearly realize that’s what you’re doing!
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If the journalists who covered education worked a bit harder to find other experts to interview than Ravitch and Rhee, perhaps neither would be considered heroes–or villains. Perhaps they would just be two voices among many. And there are so many experts out there; most are teachers. To most of these teachers, Ravitch is a hero because she gives most of them a voice. If you have a problem with Ravitch being a hero, you have the opportunity to let more voices be heard, Mr. Merrow. I hope you’ll take it.
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Looks like Diane is doing quite well…maybe it’s jealousy.
Everyone is reading and listening to Diane. People are ignoring John.
“Reign of Error,” released September 17, debuts at #10 on New York Times’ bestseller list!
Thanks to all the fabulous education bloggers who spread the word.
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The world of high stakes testing has obliterated art, music, P.E., etc. from the K12 world. I applaud anyone Dr. Ravitch or Tea Party politicians that stand up to the NCLB, RTTT catatrophe.
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Mr. Merrow,
I find it quite amusing that someone who helpMichelle Rhee onto her wobbly pedestal of self promotion has the audacity to tell anyone what a hero is. Your comparison of Ted Cruz to Diane Ravitch solidifies my opinion that you really are the type of journalist that will sell the point of view that would gain you the most viewers or readers.
Diane Ravitch is a hero because she stands up for what she believes in, she admits when she is wrong, and her herculean efforts are an inspiration to tens of thousands of her fans.
Heroes don’t take food out of the mouth of children, deny heath coverage to anyone, threaten to destroy our country’s financial well being, ignore the needs of the poor, insult their nation’s duly elected leader, and work towards the destruction of our nation’s human values.
You owe Diane an apology, you owe all of us who view Diane as a hero, an apology, and you owe your readers an apology.
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“Since when does taking a strong public stand qualify as an act of heroism?”
Since Bill Gates, and Eli Broad, and Michelle Rhee, and Pearson, and McGraw-Hill, and the President and Arne Duncan and George W. Bush and Jeb Bush and Scott Walker and Andrew Cuomo et. al. decided that it was acceptable to bully public employees and public school students behind a façade of “data.”
Standing up to bullies, especially when they are rich and powerful, is ALWAYS an act of heroism.
Standing up to bullies is the ULTIMATE act of heroism when facing “the messy middle.”
Heroism DOES reside in the acts of people facing bullets and fires.
Herosim does NOT reside SOLELY in the acts of people facing a bullet or a fire.
How sad to hold such a narrow definition of heroism in your heart.
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Well, there is a thoughtful comment. You can imagine those on the right saying ” how dare they compare Ted Cruz with this Ravitch person.” The implication is they don’t really know who she is, which is probably true, unless they are anti common core and then, they, too, would be in support of her.
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John, the first thing that struck me is, who (in God’s name) are YOU to be giving an award to the teachers of Sandy Hook? Couldn’t they have found anybody at all more worthy? Were you not struck with at least a twinge of humility in such a situation?
Instead, you puff yourself up and hold forth on other people’s heroism. You certainly could have offered yourself as a non-example: after all, you published a column about how you gave up on trying to pursue the truth of the DC cheating scandal, because you were not being praised by influential and powerful people for your spasm of journalistic integrity.
So, your excuse for attacking Diane Ravitch (out of the blue) isn’t anything she’s done, it’s just that many people do consider her work heroic. I’m one of those people, so I am at fault here. I wish you’d asked us why we admire her, but instead you asked,
“Since when does taking a strong public stand qualify as an act of heroism?”
Well, how would you know, of course, since you didn’t have even the stomach to do that. But Diane has done more. For the past year, she has gotten up before dawn every single say and worked so long and hard I have been afraid for her health. By the way, so have I.
But, none of her admirers is asking Diane to slow down, or to take the weight off her feet for a while. We understand how important this mission is, and we see that she’s in a position to make a decisive difference. We know that what we’re asking of her is actual physical heroism, and real, permanent sacrifice if it comes to that.
We’re asking a kind of heroism of each other, because we believe we can save public education from wanton destruction, and hand it on for the next generation of Americans, if enough of us are willing to make the necessary sacrifices and take the necessary risks.
I would have asked it of you, also, if you hadn’t already publicly declared your surrender, to the security and convenience of your hired advocacy industry. What would you know about any of this?
One thing still amazes me. How dare you take those teachers as a platform?
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This post says it all, Mr. Merrow:
“You certainly could have offered yourself as a non-example [of being a hero] : after all, you published a column about how you gave up on trying to pursue the truth of the DC cheating scandal, because you were not being praised by influential and powerful people for your spasm of journalistic integrity.”
Your post–on the heels of the post where you announced you would no longer pursue the Michele Rhee story and just as Ravitch’s book reaches the NY Times best-seller list, sparking panic in the corporate reform circles that have buttered your bread for years and years– tells everyone who is interested all they need to know about your credibility when it comes to defining “heroism.”
And your banal and tepid “the best answer lies somewhere in the middle” conclusions–while ensuring you funding for years to come– really add nothing to our current debate.
As a 15-year veteran of urban and suburban public schools, I don’t consider Dr. Ravitch a hero. But she is admirable for admitting when she is wrong and for trying to make amends for her complicity in triggering the machinations that have intensified the privatization of public schooling in most urban centers in the U.S. I won’t claim to be the end all arbiter of deciding who should be bestowed with “hero” status, but since you started the discussion, I will just conclude by adding: to me, your ongoing complicity in that same corporate reform boondoggle–despite a few surprising “spasms of integrity” over the past year or so– makes you neither “heroic” nor “admirable.”
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“For the past year, she has gotten up before dawn every single say and worked so long and hard I have been afraid for her health. By the way, so have I.” Every single day? So, you’ve been bunking with Diane to know her daily itinerary? First-hand? Or simply more hyperbole and half truths? How would you know she’s up every day before dawn? You’ve been afraid for her health? Now you’re her doctor?
BTW, so have I? More self promotion? What a load of happy hen manure. You’re as transparent as your purported movement, which, by the way, continues to make minimal to zero headway in countering the current education reforms.
Bad-Ass Teachers? That’s a great moniker for professional educators to adopt. And what, exactly, has happened to this steamroller group? They’ve seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth as has the Save Our Schools group that “marched” on Washington and for their grand finale had less than fifty people stay to listen to Diane Ravitch speak. Oh, did you not make it to another one of the movement’s events? Yet another surprise. All BIG talk and when it comes time for action you’re AWOL.
Try reading Diane’s new book CAREFULLY and after each one of her contentions ask yourself: What’s behind this statement and more importantly, what’s the REST of the story here? From choice, to student/teacher accountability, to shuttering/restructuring drop-out factories, to some purported entity attempting to abolish public education…she never tells the whole story behind any of it. So if she’s the leading agent against all the reforms, and she appears to be, your movement is going right where it hasn’t gone to date: NOWHERE.
John Merrow has more integrity and credibility is his little finger than anything you’ve ever done. You’re certainly NO ONE to question anything he does.
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Sorry, John, but this endorsement from a retired teacher who is against progressive education, including projects, and has said that “Investing in assessments that focus on higher order thinking skills (critical thinking and problem solving) is a waste of time and money,” and condemned qualitative assessments because they are not quantitative assessments, carries about as much weight as an endorsement from Ted Cruz.
Then again, maybe you like our government being shut down and held hostage by Cruz et al. to the tune of $40M – $80M per day, leaving approximately 800,000 federal employees on furlough? Somehow, I think not.
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John stood there as Michelle Rhee said want to watch me fire someone.
He knew of questions about her resume yet remained silent.
It took John several years to express regret about that.
I see children do a better, faster job than that.
Come back to elementary school, John.
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John: How disappointing!
Diane is not Ted Cruz. Who’s paying you to publish this nonsense to hold David Levin up as a hero for running military camps called charter schools at taxpayers expense. You are misguided and seem to be easily influenced in the wrong direction.
David Levin and other charter operators have awakened parents who have more votes than the reformers and charter operators. Legislators are listening to the parents.
Name one “reform” that has worked and provide evidence. High-stakes testing? Charter schools? VAM? Teacher Bashing? Merit pay? Students First?
Name one reformer other than your hero, David Levin whom you trust.
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How strange that this issue is raised at this time. I’ve been reading Diane’s book and thinking over and over again, what a hero! No doubt about it, she is my hero–and I have very few. Comparing her to Ted Cruz s an ultimate insult.
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I’m with my fellow nutmeg-er, John Pelto, and others. Public education is under an all-out assault by powerful interests that want to tap into the biggest untapped market in America – public education. And this includes big tech, charter companies testing companies and other interests who want to crush the teachers’ union. If Diane Ravitch is not a hero, then who is? She is taking on a huge, well funded, carefully orchestrated movement – a dragon of sorts. I would suggest consulting a dictionary and perhaps some Joseph Campbell literature in order to get a better understanding of what constitutes a hero. Your credibility is at stake.
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