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"Our public officials are not much concerned about the 'waste of human resources'.… But … the big causes of stupidity, of lack of initiative and lack of honorable incentive, are glaring," noted Paul Goodman—a half-century ago—in Growing Up Absurd. "Our society cannot have it both ways: to maintain a conformist and ignoble system and to have skillful and spirited men to man that system with." That word, "spirited," is where I rest the heart of our case. Spirited students require spirited teachers, of course. And we are killing off the spirit in the most deliberate way—fifty-five years after Goodman published these words.

Personal experience over the past 35 years with schools in New York City & Boston (MA) is drawn on to argue that unions are not the cause of the problems with the nation's schools or school reform efforts. In states with weak unions & no legal bargaining rights, teachers are afraid to speak up about what they perceive as problems; even in states with strong unions, dissatisfaction with educational policies or practices is rarely voiced. It is argued that many teachers' unions come to assume the very traits of the management they oppose, eg, rigidity, impersonality, & power obsession. In addition, too great a focus on tests & standards has led to neglect of the teaching of critical thinking, as has a lack of demonstrable critical thinking among teachers themselves, who have been rendered too compliant & focused on test scores. Both unions & educational management need to actively involve teachers in the reform process. The overwhelming benefits of unions for addressing educational -- as well as social & political -- inequalities are enumerated. K. Hyatt Stewart

A critical review of educational proposals advanced by Diane Ravitch in The Troubled Crusade: American Education, 1945-1980 (New York: Basic Books, 1983). Ravitch's neoconservative proposals see US public schools as a great achievement endangered by the progressive movement & the 1960s' concern with equality. Her analysis of the relationship between education & democracy is flawed by failure to recognize the impact of SC on schooling. Ravitch's proposals for attaining equal results fail to recognize the impact of factors outside the schools on performance, nor do they come to grips with the realities of classroom instruction. Further, Ravitch's rejection of noncognitive goals is inconsistent with the traditional educational practices she claims to defend. Ravitch both fails to offer a valid defense of the liberal arts, & disregards the impact of standardized tests & curricula & the influence of economic institutions on the schools. Her proposals are thus likely to be wholly ineffective in producing either excellence or equality. W. H. Stoddard.

IN THE NAME OF OBJECTIVITY AND SCIENCE, THE TESTING ENTERPRISE HAS LED TEACHERS AND PARENTS TO DISTRUST THEIR ABILITY TO KNOW THEIR OWN CHILDREN; THIS IS THE GREATEST DISSERVICE IT HAS DONE US. NOTHING IS MORE HARMFUL TO A GOOD EDUCATION THAN THIS WITHERING AWAY OF THE EXPECTATION THAT IT TAKES HUMAN BEINGS TO MAKE JUDGMENTS. THE TASK OF RETURNING TESTING TO ITS PROPER PLACE WILL BE DIFFICULT.

We've had a long run at something like a democratic society, one that has steadily expanded the definition of who's "in." We've done this with wisdom and luck—and because of the unrelenting pressure of "the people," organized in one way or another. That accounts in part for my long-term optimism. Still, looking at history's arc, democracy seems a fragile and almost unnatural idea. We can hardly argue that we've paid much attention to how it is passed from generation to generation. Mostly, we count on word of mouth and the happenstances of growing up. Now, we are in a century that will challenge the ideas underlying democracy as never before, and the odds on its survival seem about even—so long as we depend on word of mouth and happenstance.

Discusses how US school systems are undermining democracy. The negative impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on democracy is described in terms of how it not only removes the frills of childhood, eg, play & arts & crafts, but the frills of local democracy by centralizing control of education in the form a test-oriented approach. It is argued that children are at risk as the power shifts away from the home, schools, & local communities. In this light, a call is made for democratic education centered on reconnecting children with the adults closest to them & on education policy that eschews the current intellectual rigidity & narrowness for the openness & ingenuity characteristic of an earlier time in US history when visions of democracy were robust. D. Edelman