The Language Police

If you're anactressor acoedjust trying to do aman-size job, ayes-manwhoturns a deaf earto somesob sister, anheiressaboard heryacht, or abookwormenjoying aboy's night out, Diane Ravitch's internationally acclaimedThe Language Policehas bad news for you: Erase those words from your vocabulary! Textbook publishers and state education agencies have sought to root out racist, sexist, and elitist language in classroom and library materials. But according to Diane Ravitch, a leading historian of education, what began with the best of intentions has veered toward bizarre extremes. At a time when we celebrate and encourage diversity, young readers are fed bowdlerized texts, devoid of the references that give these works their meaning and vitality. With forceful arguments and sensible solutions for rescuing American education from the pressure groups that have made classrooms bland and uninspiring,The Language Policeoffers a powerful corrective to a cultural scandal.

Diane Ravitch is a historian of education and Research Professor of Education at New York University and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. She was assistant secretary in charge of research in the U.S. Department of Education in the administration of President George H. W. Bush and was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board by President Bill Clinton. The author of seven previous books on education, including the critically acclaimed <b>Left Back: A Century of Battles Over School Reform</b>, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.