Out Of Order

ONE SIZE FITS FEW: The Folly Of Educational Standards , by Susan Ohanian. (Heinemann, $16.95.) In this diatribe, longtime teacher and fervent progressive Ohanian comes across like a hectoring right-wing radio host. In a mere 150 pages, she lambastes--and this is a partial list-- USA Today , Education Week , corporate greed, the California Department of Education, and everything and anything having to do with the movement to set curriculum standards.

In earlier books such as Who's in Charge?, Ohanian emerged as an astute critic of educational folly. But One Size, with its self-righteous, sarcastic tone--particularly grating is her insistence on calling standards advocates "Standardistos"--is less analysis than an ad hominem riff, portraying standards as the dark machinations of Fortune 500 executives and conservative think tanks.

Of course, this generalization isn't even halfway true. The standards movement was launched not by a cabal of elites but by popularly elected governors responding to public demand for greater school accountability. Much of this demand came from activist inner-city parents who wanted a better education for their children. But Ohanian doesn't acknowledge anything that would dilute her argument that standards are the work of know-nothing elites, contemptuous of teachers and students alike. Standardistos, she tells us in no uncertain terms, are people with "a scope and sequence chart mentality" who say, "Let them eat cake;...