It must be the back to school season because there are a lot of interesting education pieces on the web. I thought I’d just mention and briefly comment on some:
- On Matt Ladner’s Little Ramona’s Gone Hillbilly Nuts about Diane Ravtich’s new-found enthusiasm for teacher unions and hostility to charter schools and merit pay — I posted this comment on his piece: “I liked Left Back, Language Police, and much of her historical work. That’s why it’s so disappointing to read what she is writing these days. From her earlier work one would never have guessed that she would accuse people who favor merit pay, reduction in teacher tenure rights, and charter schools of plotting to destroy public education. And for someone whose past work relied on rigorous scholarship, it is shocking to see these new claims made without any evidence that merit pay, weaker tenure, and charter schools harm public education, let alone destroy it. Other than the fact that Bloomberg and Klein support these policies, it is not clear why Diane Ravitch opposes them.”
- Marcus Winters has a great piece on National Review Online about how reforming the teacher compensation system is the key to improving teacher quality and, in turn, student achievement.
- Thomas Hibbs has a not-so-great piece on National review Online about how “the true teacher cannot simply be an instrument of the wishes of the student’s family.” He’s right that parents can sometimes try to shield their children from burdens by lowering academic expectations and that teachers need to strive for excellence regardless. But it’s unrealistic to expect that we can build an educational system based on “the teacher’s love.” Parents, whatever their shortcomings, are more likely to be effective advocates for a child’s progress than even well-intentioned and well-trained teachers because the parents have a love for children that we cannot realistically expect from teachers.
- I don’t have time to comment on them, but you should also check out the rest of the National Review Online pieces, including those by Checker Finn, Neal McCluskey, Mike Petrilli and Amber Winkler, and Susan Konig.
Posted by Jay P. Greene 
Jay P. Greene's Blog 