Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a recent post "Re:
David Berliner on 'A Nation at Risk': Three Decades of Lies #2 -
ADDENDUM #2" [Hake (2013c)]. The abstract reads:
*********************************************
ABSTRACT: As a sequel to previous posts "David Berliner on 'A Nation
at Risk': Three Decades of Lies #2" [Hake (2013a)] at
<http://yhoo.it/10dPm4V> and "David Berliner on 'A Nation at Risk':
Three Decades of Lies #2 - ADDENDUM" [Hake (2013b)] at
<http://yhoo.it/10g1iTV>, I'm compelled to point out that today, 26
April 2013, the Fordham Institute <http://bit.ly/15WNcPn> and
American Enterprise Institute <http://bit.ly/ZpCkGc>, both
conservative think tanks, have placed on YouTube at
<http://bit.ly/10hDbUW> a video "A Nation At Risk: 30 Years Later,"
featuring such "reformers" as Lamar Alexander, William Bennett, Arne
Duncan, Chester Finn, and Michelle Rhee. The only speaker not heaping
effusive praise on "A Nation at Risk" is ex-conservative renegade
Diane Ravitch. She says (paraphrasing): "What the writers of 'A
Nation at Risk' had in mind was higher standards, better schools, and
a stellar public education system. But over the past 30 years the
report has become the founding document of the privatization movement
- the basis for privatization of the school system and the enrichment
of a small number of entrepreneurs."
*********************************************
"[The authors of 'A Nation at Risk'] were wrong. Their predictions
were all wrong. And I think it would be almost better to regard it as
just a wake-up call. It's a way of using language that was overheated
to . . . . get attention. But it had a real-world effect because for
one thing it began the wrong march to destroy public education which
is now in full flower."
- Diane Ravitch in YouTube video "A Nation At Risk: 30 Years Later"
REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 27 April 2013.]
Hake, R.R. 2013c. "Re: David Berliner on 'A Nation at Risk': Three
Decades of Lies #2 - ADDENDUM #2," online on the OPEN Net-Gold
archives at <http://yhoo.it/10jCnPq>. Post of 26 April 2013
23:46:03-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the
complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists and
are on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/Y4m0tB>.