(Can we stop the long march to full-on privatization? – promoted by eli_beckerman)
Let me make this perfectly clear: A full scale attack has been launched against public education in America. The so-called education reform bill that was passed in Massachusetts in January – and welcomed with great fanfare by Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino – is part of this attack.
The 2010 “reform” bill allows a school superintendant to take over a school, fire all the teachers and administrators, invalidate all teacher union contracts, and turn the educational process over to a private charter school. The impetus for following this path is being provided through funding mechanisms being put in place by the Obama Administration – especially the “Race to the Top” funds. Billionaire hedge fund managers have already set up the financial structures that will take charge of public education funds.
The key leaders of the Democratic Party and Republican Party are on board. The stage is set. And next year, as the stimulus funds propping up our state budget disappear, we are facing a funding crisis for education – a perfect Disaster Capitalism event. Unless we respond, we could see our public education system dismantled and replaced by a stratified, privatized system in which the shots are called by charter school industry profiteers, not by educators and democratically-elected school boards.
The implications for our society go far beyond the classroom. The public education system in the United States has always been our nation’s great vehicle for opportunity and equality. In contrast, across the world privatized education has always served to reinforce social heirarchy and strengthen control by the elite. Once public education is lost, only the promises of hedge fund managers stands between us and an anti-democratic educational system.
The article below, by respected educator Diane Ravitch, describes the situation in plain language. Ravitch actually helped the first Bush administration set up some of the charter school programs, but she’s since had a change of heart. There is some resistance in Massachusetts. Teacher’s unions like the Boston Teachers Union are trying to alert people to what’s happening. One gubernatorial candidate, Jill Stein, is standing up to defend public education (www.jillstein.org). Otherwise, the fix is in. It’s time to start paying attention and let the BTU and Jill Stein know that you appreciate their principled stand. Once the disaster strikes, it will be very hard to keep the privatization plans from being rammed through.
Schools 4 $Sale: Inquire at U.S. DOE
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek…
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Actually, our school system is already decidedly anti-democratic. The current system does a perfectly adequate job of reinforcing social hierarchies. We need to go even further–end municipal based funding and fund ALL schools across the state on a per capita basis. (Of course, the very idea will drive the liberals in the suburbs batshit. Fuck ’em.) If you ever want even a modicum of democracy in this country, THAT’s where it starts. I’d give my left nut to see a candidate advance THAT idea. Admittedly, it’s politically suicidal–but if you want justice in this country, really want a level playing playing field… start there.
Sadly, even the very, very small-scale elements of private schooling–religious schools excluded (I’m an admirer of what they’ve accomplished historically on shoestring budgets)–have already shown the effects of privilege: the prep school structure, entrenched in New England, creates and old-boys-and-girls-network from a very early age. From Milton Academy to Harvard to the State Department…
Jonathan Kozol’s The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America should be required reading for anyone running for office. Make that–for anyone planning to vote.