![]() ![]() Pre-Publication Draft of Current Book for which I am still seeking a publisher. David Berliner, Regents' Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University Levin, director, National Center for the Study for Privatization in Education and William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University A new voice, authoritative and convincing, informing us that when our leaders demean the competency of our educators and ignore their remarkable achievements in the face of the rapid expansion of childhood poverty, they both diminish a noble profession and harm the public system of education that is part of the ongoing American experiment in democracy. Cookson Brian Ford counters the negative and destructive, ideological attack on teachers and schools by constructing an alternative perspective powerful implications for creating a dynamic and productive educational system. Don’t wait - start reading Respect for Teachers now if you want to reclaim the democratic vision of education. At a time when our national education conversation is confused and confusing, this new book is sorely needed. Respect for Teachers is compelling and completely convincing. ![]() REVIEWS: Brian Ford’s brilliant new book does two important things: It debunks the Neoliberal attack on public schools and provides an avenue for rethinking education based on trust and the needs of children. Joseph Schumpeter once said, “No bourgeoisie ever disliked war profits.” Respect operates under the premise that no bourgeoisie ever disliked the spoils of school reform, either. As this endangers the egalitarian basis of democracy, it also reminds us that schooling is big business – many trillions of dollars world-wide. Connecting attacks on teachers, unions and schools and the misrepresentation of research to the promotion of new economic models in education, it suggests that the Obama administration may be, without quite realizing it, setting the stage for rapid privatization of the public system. While this goes back decades, Respect for Teachers takes its title from a phrase -perhaps a codeword- in President's 2011 State of the Union address and sits down to consider its implications. ![]() Our system has gotten worse at its core, in its philosophical tenets and in its ultimate effects, by placing unwonted pressure on our youth and in stifling their creativity. Relying on testing as a standard, in the end we may have decreased our human potential and become less competitive. Following a questionable logic that sees education as a means to economic ends, efforts to reform education have focused on keeping the US from slipping in international economic competition. For over 30 years we have been in the midst of a paradox. ![]()
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