As a research professor and advocate, Diane Ravitch understands the state of today’s American education system.

Ravitch said government programs such as Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind leave out the core issue in the education system — poverty and segregation.

“Teacher evaluation stuff is ridiculous. No other country in the world is doing what we’re doing, aren’t we lucky?” she said sarcastically. “So many things that affect scores are a part of family structure.”

Ravitch reinforced this sentiment when she spoke at Hendricks Chapel Tuesday evening. In her lecture titled “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” Ravitch elaborated on the pitfalls of the country’s education system.

Race to the Top, a program funded by the Department of Education, and No Child Left Behind, a United States Act of Congress, utilize performance-based testing to determine grants and federal funding.

Those who seek reform ignore poverty and segregation as the root causes of a deprived public school system, Ravitch said.

“These people are not reformers, they are destroyers. Reformers should provide the social services these children rightly need,” she said. “Test scores don’t predict anything. The genuine crisis is high poverty.”

Ravitch criticized the use of test scores in teaching evaluations, which she said discourages teachers to perform better.

“We need higher standards to become a teacher, not lower,” Ravitch said. “We’re destroying teaching as a profession.”

Ravitch also touched upon some of the future issues with regards to government spending and technology. For example, she said, technology must be used carefully. She added that it’s important to avoid sacrificing the arts and other topics that matter more.

Cindy Chen, a graduate student in the School of Education, said she was dissatisfied with the lecture.

“I have to say that what she said tonight wasn’t news to me — it wasn’t something that we didn’t already know,” Chen said. “She kind of made fun of it and she didn’t really mention any solutions.”

As Chen enters the education field, she said her outlook is increasingly dismal, because she knows that no matter what changes are implemented in the education system, it is impossible to satisfy everyone.

Despite the state of the education system, Michaela Kearns, a sophomore inclusive and social education major, said she felt empowered to make a change after the lecture.

“I’m really excited. I really want to make a difference and help the children,” Kearns said. “People really aren’t helping them and I want to be a teacher that can help.”

Beyond her thoughts on the future of the education system, Ravitch was able to give a compelling argument on the system’s current flaws, said Richard Wallach, a Syracuse resident and lawyer.

“She had a great command of all these facts and the history of education in the country and around the world,” he said. “And she was able to show a lot of the silly and dangerous and foolish things that our political leaders do trying to improve education.”

Published on April 2, 2014 at 1:55 am