How Privatizers Are Killing Our Schools

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/education/how-privatizers-are-killing-our-schools



***SNIP


We're Sliding Backwards, Towards "Separate and Unequal"

In 1954, the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education seemed to place our country on the right track. Chief Justice Earl Warren said that education "is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." Thurgood Marshall insisted on "the right of every American to an equal start in life."

***SNIP

The Underprivileged Have Been Cheated Out Of Taxes

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Almost 90 percent of K-12 funding comes from state and local taxes. But in 2011 and 2012, 155 of the largest U.S. corporations paid only about half of their required state taxes. That comes to $14 billion per year in unpaid taxes, more than the K-12 cuts.

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Untaxed and Unqualified Foundations Want To "Save Our Schools"

The "starve the beast" mentality allows the privatizers to claim that our "Soviet-style" schools don't work, and that a business approach must be used instead. Philanthropists like Bill Gates and Eli Broad and Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch and the Walton family, who have little educational experience among them, and who have little accountability to the public, are promoting "education reform" with lots of standardized testing.

***SNIP

Getting Past Our "Exceptionalism"

If we're willing to look beyond our borders for help, we will see the short-sightedness of our educational "reforms." Finland's schools were considered mediocre 30 years ago, but they've achieved a remarkable turnaround by essentially challenging their teachers before they're entrusted with the welfare of the children. Most Finnish teachers are unionized, and they undergo rigorous masters-level training to ensure proficiency in the teaching profession, which is held in the same high esteem as law and medicine. In keeping with this respect for learning, government funding is applied equally to all schools, classes in the arts are available to all students, and tuition is free.

[LeftishBrit]

1. And it's happening in the UK too. Ugh.

[dchill]

2. "Separate and Unequal"

And it's been going on for decades, and getting progressively worse.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Murdoch and Walmart are "philanthropists"?

When did that happen?

Language should have a little wiggle room but....... come on now.

K and R

[WinkyDink]

4. There's $$$$$$ to be made in Education, Inc. But the wealthy don't want us actually educated.

[TBF]

7. Yup - it's a win/win for the billionaires

keep the plebes illiterate and mass transfer of remaining middle class monies straight up to the billionaire class. Pearson LLP - look them up - making billions off testing.

Bonus: killing the teacher's union - when they accomplish that teachers will be making $8/hour like all the other service workers.

[WinkyDink]

8. I'm a retired h.s. teacher; saw too well the testing scam. The PA one had all students, bar none,

take the same test. Gee, I wonder if that would depress scores and hence school standings? So that schools might need to be '"taken over"?

[TBF]

9. Exactly.

We don't have fascism in this country yet but as the NSA spying continues and all these industries are taken over by the very wealthy (with the accompanying gap between rich and poor widening) it isn't hard to see which direction we're going.

I've always said I actually feared a socialist revolution in this country because I didn't think it would come out the way I liked. Every indication is that we won't even need the revolution - it's more like a controlled coup behind the scenes that is slowly taking over with our assent.

[stillwaiting]

10. Slowly taking over with a majority of the public's apathy.

They couldn't do this if the majority of Americans weren't apathetic about what happens in Washington D.C. and their individual states and localities.

Right now, the elite have it extraordinarily easy in decimating the working/middle classes for their own gain because too many Americans have failed to be an active CITIZEN of this country. They are merely constituents of America to my mind. They just don't deserve to be called citizens (even though legally they clearly are).

The consumerist, sport and entertainment-obsessed culture of the U.S. drives me quite mad. These individuals just don't deserve to live in a great country. Unfortunately, they will be bringing down a lot of us with them.

[WinkyDink]

17. Pane et circenses. The Elites, at least, know history.

[daleanime]

5. Big time K&R.....

[zeemike]

6. They are finally achieving the goal of the John Birch society.

It took a while, but we are there...

[Blanks]

11. The headline on that article is misleading...

The conclusion that the author comes to is that teachers aren't as prepared in the US as they are in other countries.

The author's conclusion appears to be more testing for teachers (that's what works in Finland).

Sure, the article mentions the 'privatizers', but the problem (that's pointed out) isn't as much the privatizers as it is corporations not paying their fair share of the taxes. Clearly the author looks at the privatizers with disdain, but never really illustrates why 'they' are the problem.

A more accurate headline would be along the lines of "American Education System Not Getting Enough Support From The Government". Where the system is working (in other countries) it is working because the government is behind improving teachers, and not just paying lip service to supporting education.

We need to put the amount of money that we spend on sports (and the facilities where they are played) under scrutiny if we are ever going to seriously take on improving the education of the individuals that need the education the most.

[bemildred]

12. "American Education System Not Getting Enough Support From The Government"

And all the rest is smoke and mirrors.
+1.

[DanM]

13. Private schooling has long been the legal continuance of "separate but equal". n/t

[Cummins14]

14. Teachers and public schools

When I was being educated, I learned how to spell, use correct pronunciation and write, learned history, math, science.
I teach teenagers to drive. MY WAY. OLD SCHOOL. STOP at STOP signs, not blow through the signs.

Read the .pdf file found below.
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/MomsPDFs/Back%20to%20Basics%20Reform_Iserbyt_book.pdf

Do some investigating. Don't be a supporter of "Dumbing our kids."
My daughter is sending her children to private schools. WHY? Public schools AREN'T teaching what is needed to enter college.

[davidn3600]

15. one thing public education is bad with is helping students with learning disabilities

My brother has a learning disability, and he basically ended up dropping out of school. The public school system never really had an answer. My mother sent him to a private school that provided the type of education he needed, and he eventually graduated.

There are problems with the public schools that go beyond funding. One of those problems is they have a herd mentality where they try to teach everyone the same. Some students need individualized help and the system doesn't know how to offer that.

[Xyzse]

16. I agree

I don't like this trend towards Privitization of the School System via charter schools.