[Phys-L] JD writing style Re: [New post] Peter Greene on Defenders of the Common Core

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

On 2015, Dec 18, , at 11:01, Diane Ravitch's blog <comment-reply@wordpress.com> wrote:

> Peter takes apart the standard reformer narrative: the Common Core was written by experts (not); the tests are more rigorous, which is a good thing (not); the Common Core was handicapped by Obama's support for it.
>
>  
> "These days The Test never leaves the house without "more difficult" by its side. The implication is always that these new tests are more difficult, more challenging and that's why they bother people. "More difficult" is a useful weasel phrase because everybody assumes that it's a legitimate "more difficult." It's more difficult to go into the boxing ring against an opponent who's bigger and stronger than you are. Of course, it's also more difficult to go into the boxing ring with ferrets crazy-glued to your eyebrows and a dozen angry hamsters in your shorts, but people don't think along those lines because we wouldn't actually describe the ferret-and-hamster option as "more difficult" but would instead call it "crazy unreasonable stupid." By constantly describing the new tests as more difficult, writers keep directing peoples' attention away from the ferrets and hamsters.
bc thinks great JD writing style.  


However, I thought CC  placed an emphasis on crit. thinking instead of rote memory???