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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Are Critics of Corporate Education "Reform" Winning the Online Debate? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Are Critics of Corporate Education "Reform" Winning the Online Debate? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Are Critics of Corporate Education "Reform" Winning the Online Debate?

Follow me on Twitter at @AnthonyCody

Alexander Russo posted a rather provocative item today, asserting that in the online world, critics of "education reform" like myself, Ken Bernstein, Nancy Flanagan, Leonie Haimson, Caroline Grannan and John Thompson, have become dominant.

First of all, we ought to qualify his assertion. The people he names are among the most visible critics of education reform, but there are many more than the short list he offers.

But the real question is one I have been puzzling over for a while. Why is there so little real debate over education reform? Why is there little or no defense offered when corporate reformers are subjected to criticism here and elsewhere? I have been writing pieces critical of Teach For America, the Gates Foundation, NBC's