The Folly of a Preemptive & Deceptive Attack on Diane Ravitch's New Book [View all]

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Peter Cunningham, Arne Duncan's former henchperson, decided to launch an attack on Ravitch's new book...which won't be out for a few more weeks, so he presumably is trying to land haymakers on something he didn't actually read...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-welner/the-folly-of-a-preemptive_b_3777049.html

Writing here in The Huffington Post, the former press secretary for Education Secretary Arne Duncan launched a pre-emptive attack on the forthcoming book from Diane Ravitch -- a book he hasn't read. One particular part of that post caught my eye.

The author, Peter Cunningham, first chastises Ravitch for criticizing "alternative educational approaches such as charter schools... well-meaning and hard-working organizations like Teach for America..." He then writes this:

"What she will not do [in her new book] is offer a realistic alternative that will ensure that poor and low-income children receive a high quality education. She will say that a big part of the problem is poverty -- which no one disagrees with. She will call on America to invest more in fighting poverty, as if we have not spent tens of trillions of dollars fighting poverty since the New Deal and the Great Society and will spend tens of trillions more."
Yes, the total spent in the U.S. since the 1940s in "fighting poverty" (all social programs?) is very high. And it seems reasonable, given the rising levels of inequality in the U.S., to assume that the future will indeed see a much more such spending. But why is a former press secretary in a Democratic administration parroting deceptive poverty talking points straight from the right-wing Heritage Foundation? (See here, for one of many Heritage examples.)

The problem with the arguments of Mr. Cunningham and the Heritage Foundation is that the numbers here say zilch about the gap between spending and need. If Mr. Cunningham instead paid attention to the work done by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, he'd learn about growing income inequality, about the effects of welfare reform in weakening the safety net for poor families, and more generally about shrinking general assistance for those poor families.

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