Is the attack on teachers being made because of the money to be made from "Virtual Schools"?

[notadmblnd]

I'm in Michigan and suddenly I'm seeing a lot of commercials about "Michigan virtual Schools" that I've never noticed before. Is this what it is all about?

[Donnachaidh]

1. oh you betcha -- my son's school already rakes in huge amounts

The summer school has been abolished and replaced with e-school, at $500 a pop. This totally locks out ANY poor folk who haven't the cash to take these courses.

Mission accomplished. :grr:

[Ohio Joe]

2. No, I don't think so

I think it is to make it easier to get religion taught as fact to kids as part of their education.

[The Philosopher]

3. It's just one part

of the idea of smaller government in this modern era. The Government provides a service with no profit motive involved. If you take the Government out of that role, that service is still needed. So in steps a private business who does the same work (as good a job...maybe not so much) while making a profit.

So, come election time, what do you think these investors are going to do? Vote for the rights of citizens? Or tear down Government for their own greed?

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. Making money, and saving money...

...which is why the 70% of the voters who don't have a child in public schools are happy, actively or passively, to support the virtual-school movement, from which they after all don't profit, and for whom school is the lion's share of their property tax bill.

The model -- I'd say it'll take about 15 years -- for education after 7th-8th grade or so, is one guy, in a studio someplace, 'teaching' math or whatever, and he'll be a Famous Name, to give the whole operation credibility, to 50,000 students at a go, over the internet, to local satellite sites. They won't be school buildings, either -- they're too expensive, and with the price of oil going up forever, moving bodies to them will be too expensive as well. Instead you''ll see empty retail space, church basements, etc. used.

Firms like Aramark will contract out to municipalities to provide turnkey operations including local 'teachers' at $11.60 an hour, no benefits, no sick time, no vacation, to watch the kids watching, handle discipline, and answer questions, if they can answer them. It's not unlikely that the same people who are teachers now will be 'teachers' then, folks with a BA will be sufficiently desperate for work to gladly do it.

Sports, drama, music -- done by volunteers, for people who can afford to participate.

[DefenseLawyer]

5. I recall a story from a couple of years ago

Anthony Mullen, named "Teacher of the Year" wrote about what he had heard sitting at a table of governors and other politicians at an awards ceremony. Part of what he heard:

The state senator from the West is asked to go first. She is a diminutive lady and pauses to reflect upon the question. "I think we need to consider the role of teachers in the classroom," she replies in a soft voice. "We are headed toward a teacherless classroom and must be guided by this fact." A teacherless classroom? I look around the table and hope one of the esteemed guests will ask her to clarify or possibly expand upon her statement. Instead, the guests just nod their heads in agreement.

The strange little man interrupts. "I agree. Technology is making the traditional classroom teacher less relevant-possibly obsolete. Soon students will be learning at home from online classes on their laptops." I silently question who will be teaching the online classes.

The whole story is here:
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_of_the_year/2010/01/teachers_should_be_seen_and_no.html

[OHdem10]

6. It could be something as simple as the Globalization process

which is pressuring the standard of living downward.

Remember when GWB was leaving office and we were losing
790,000 jobs every MONTH. No one has had the courage
to admit this was Business adjusting their labor force
to the NEW NORMAL. Businesses cut back on workers just
as much as they could. Over the last decades the Working
Class Wages have dropped. Once a worker lost a job
he/she would never be rehired at that wage. They have
been forced to take jobs at lower wages. What appears to
be an attack on teachers, could be the means they are
using to lower Teacher's wages and other Public Workers
Wages with out ever admitting they are simply carrying out
the Globalization process. Equalizing the standard of living
around the world. They screwed up and instead of bringing
the living standards in 3rd world up, they are harmonizing
1st world down. Free Trade , ah, Free Trade.

[magdalena]

7. As soon as I saw your thread I was immediately reminded

of an article I read recently about Rupert Murdoch branching out into academia. Sounds like FOX News for Kids.

Wireless Generation, a US education technology company, will become a subsidiary of News Corporation for about $360 million in cash as Rupert Murdoch seeks to expand his company into academia.

“We see a $500 billion (education) sector in the US alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed by big breakthroughs that extend the reach of great teaching,” Murdoch said in a statement.

http://yourdailyupdateblog.com/archives/12020

Now I don't know how or if this is in any way related to these new virtual schools, but it really wouldn't surprise me.

[Maine-ah]

19. oh jeebus.

I don't want any corporation, especially something from RM to be running education. It will be effing brain washing. I can't believe I never saw this posted here, and I think it deserves a thread of it's own.

[CrispyQ]

8. Just another battle in the class war.

It's a perfect plan to lock out all poor kids from education. They will implement these virtual schools before there is ever a discussion about how poor families will afford computers, online access & the extra fees involved.

They are preparing for this, too.

GOP Missouri Lawmaker Pushes Bill Rolling Back Child Labor Laws

http://current.com/news/92998111_gop-missouri-lawmaker-pushes-bill-rolling-back-child-labor-laws.htm

Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) is pushing a bill which would dramatically claw back state child labor protections. As the bill’s official summary explains:

This act modifies the child labor laws. It eliminates the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen. Restrictions on the number of hours and restrictions on when a child may work during the day are also removed. It also repeals the requirement that a child ages fourteen or fifteen obtain a work certificate or work permit in order to be employed. Children under sixteen will also be allowed to work in any capacity in a motel, resort or hotel where sleeping accommodations are furnished. It also removes the authority of the director of the Division of Labor Standards to inspect employers who employ children and to require them to keep certain records for children they employ. It also repeals the presumption that the presence of a child in a workplace is evidence of employment.

To be fair, children in Missouri would still enjoy robust protections against exploitation even if Cunningham succeeded in repealing all child labor laws in her state, thanks to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. But far right lawmakers have declared war on federal child labor laws as well. In a lengthy lecture delivered before his election to the U.S. Senate, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) praises a discredited 1918 Supreme Court decision declaring child labor laws unconstitutional. That decision, which Lee holds out a model for his tenther vision of the Constitution, was unanimously overruled by the Supreme Court in 1941.

As recently as the day before President Obama moved into the White House, it was difficult to imagine even the most conservative lawmakers breaking with the 70 year-old consensus surrounding child labor laws. Welcome to the post-Tea Party era, where even the most bizarre and disastrous mistakes from America’s past are part of the right-wing’s agenda.

[Frances]

9. Class Warfare

The GOP controlled Supreme Court has given corporations the rights of individuals as far as donations to political candidates. So, the Republicans are well funded in any election.

The only major opposition to corporations in elections are unions. The attacks on public employees and their unions are designed to wipe out the main opposition to corporate sponsored Republicans in elections.

Also, the more poorly educated people are, the easier it is to control them.

FDR's policies created a strong middle class that kept getting better economically. The middle class thought they would move up into the rich class, so they listened to the siren song of GE as voiced by Reagan:lower taxes for the rich and cheaper goods because of lower regulation on corporations. Now more and more middle class people are moving into poverty and corporations are getting richer and more powerful.

[Generic Other]

10. Neil Bush Ignite software...Bill Gates Foundation...

I think this is exactly what is happening on one front. Software instruction. Pre-programmed. Guess whose programs?

[old mark]

11. K&R- That's part of it- the Right hates public education because it is

"too liberal" and hates teachers for the same reason..they give kids IDEAS the rwers don't like, and that covers a lot of ground...


mark

[sabrina 1]

12. They also use up all that public funding which could

be directed towards privately run 'charter schools' where the middlemen, businessmen, take out 30% of the money meant for education, in profits.

It's the exact same plan we have in the Health Care system, where the paper shufflers, who do nothing wrt taking care of people's health issues, were taking approx. the same amount. Now even more public money is being directed to the private insurance corps.

Same thing with the Prison system. More privately run jails, means directing more public funds into private hands.

It's all about directing those huge public funds into private hands.

[old mark]

13. Yes- the same with Social Security- they hate seeing all that money

and it's not THEIRS!


mark

[sabrina 1]

14. Yes, SS also. It's a system.

First identify huge public funds, then attack those for whom they were intended, 'welfare mothers' 'incompetent teachers' eg, then propose a 'different' approach, because they do not want to diminsh the funds, just redirect them, get people on board, and before long millions and millions of those funds are in the hands of people like Neil Bush and the Educational Test Publishing Corps.

It's not even brilliant, it's simple. Just never let the people know that at least 30% of THEIR money is going to buy yachts and McMansions for incompetent, greedy and corrupt 'businessmen'.

[Hannah Bell]

15. yes.

[Starry Messenger]

16. 800 billion dollars

http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article14.php?id=1333

According to US Census data, over $800 billion is spent on education, public and private, at all levels, in the US each year. Especially in the current downturn of the capitalist system, corporate interests are determined to pry open public education and get their hands on more of these billions. Examples of companies that already make big money out of public education are the publishers of text books; the companies producing test material; the growing number of for-profit charter school operators; as well as the private professional development and consulting services which have proliferated.

All of that lovely money going to waste on the public. Why can't we be nice and share it with the nice billionaires? If we are mean to them, they might leave!

[Kerrytravelers]

17. Let me tell you a bit about virtual school from an insider's point of view.

It's awful. I'm in California, so I don't know about the Michigan situation.

I am an independent study teacher. In our program, we are a public school that serves kids who aren't fitting in the traditional setting for all kinds of reasons. They may be academically so far ahead or behind that placement is difficult. They may be ill, both physically or mentally. Some kids are actors and other athletes that see lots of travel. In our program, we serve K-12. Generally, we meet with students on a regular basis, proctor assessments, review work, assign grades, etc. Anything that a classroom teacher would do.

The director of the program has decided that we should open a virtual school in addition to the independent study program we already have open. She asked six of us to work for both schools. That is how I got dragged into this mess.

The original idea was to set up an AP program for the advanced student. I wasn't convinced this would work, but...ok.

Our program is free. It is a public school and we don't charge. We're not making a profit, so there is no purpose to charge.

These kids aren't learning a damn thing. The students we have enrolling are not advanced placement type students. They are generally kids who have dropped out and are looking to earn their high school credits. Because we're a public school, we can't deny enrollment to anyone, even if we know we are setting them up to fail. Our director refuses to look at the program and consider switching to a new provider. We currently use Advanced Academics, which is a subsidiary of DeVry. (I learned this long after being dragged into this mess.)

We have this attendance policy. If a kid falls below 76% attendance, they are put on probation. The second time it happens, they are dropped from the program. We also have an expected amount of work that has to be completed. If a student gets behind, we calculate this into their attendance and lower their attendance. The equation for this is long and seemingly forever changing. The six of us have given up and are giving the kids the benefit of the doubt to the best of our abilities.

The office staff is basically working two jobs for one pay. The attendance clerk is now doing attendance for an additional school, but getting paid the same as when we only had one school. Same with the rest of the office staff. And they are pissed.

It has now been announced that we will be making our independent study program only K-8 and our high school will be virtual in two years. So, a student who is mentally ill (and I have two) and has serious adjustment issues will now be expected to learn online. There are no books in our online program. This will never work.

And, so you know what my position on all this nonsense is, I have let my director know that I will not be working for the virtual high school next year. And what she doesn't know is that I'm in serious talks to work for a company that provides yearbooks and yearbook related services. I would be a sales rep for yearbooks. And if I don't get that job, I am still looking elsewhere because I can not bring myself morally or ethically to return to my current position. And I am not alone. None of the six of us will be returning to the virtual school next year and four of the six of us are looking for new employment.

[notadmblnd]

18. Everything you said is pretty much what I thought it would be

I'm assuming you're not unionized? I highly suspect that this is what the governor is going to do with Detroit.