Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, Diane Ravitch, is set to speak at Princeton High School Nov. 4.
Ravitch plans to discuss her new book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools. An advocate for public education, Ravitch is set to put forth a plan for how to protect and improve public schools.
Reign of Error is a comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair. It is an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement, which Ravitch claims is draining students and funding from public schools.
She argues that federal programs such as George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama’s Race to the Top set unreasonable targets for American students, punish schools and result in teachers being fired if their students under-perform, unfairly branding those educators as failures.
In her book, Ravitch warns that major foundations, individual billionaires, and Wall Street hedge fund managers are encouraging the privatization of public education, some for idealistic reasons and others for profit.
Ravitch is a historian of education and research professor of education at New York University. She was assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education in the administration of President George W. Bush and was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board by President Bill Clinton.
The event is scheduled for 4 to 5:20 p.m. Nov. 4 at PHS Performing Arts Center, 151 Moore St., Princeton. It is sponsored by Save Our Schools NJ, Labyrinth Books and Princeton Public Schools
