Schools Incorporated?: The Obamney Education Plan

Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Obamney Education Plan

" I’m going to make that choice meaningful by ensuring that there are sufficient options for parents to be able to exercise them. And thus, in order to receive the full complement of federal education dollars, states are going to have to provide students with an ample school choice opportunity." - Mitt Romney in a recent speech given at a Philadelphia Charter School

If it weren't against the Republican rules and he wasn't a presidential candidate, you'd think Mitt Romney would have nothing but praise for Obama and Duncan's Race to the Top and School Improvement Grant education "reform" policies. Its no secret the attack on public education is bi-partisan. Both Democrats and Republicans are pushing the corporate school reform agenda by making the receipt of federal taxpayer dollars for education contingent upon privatization and high-stakes accountability measures. Even Democrat Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter criticized Romney's higher education plan yet they both support privatization at the elementary and high school levels of public education. Isn't it great to know that your tax dollars are being used to force states into privatizing their public schools?

It was no coincidence that Romney gave this speech at a charter school in Philly. Philly recently decided to completely disband its public school system and divvy up the remaining schools to private sector charters. Paul Vallas who was Arne Duncan's predecessor in Chicago under Mayor Richard M. Daley (D), arrived in Philly in 2002. This was the year after the State of Pennsylvania took control of the public school system and began enacting corporate reforms. Ten years later...

The importance of saving our public education system cannot be underscored enough. It is quite literally what will determine our future. There is no doubt the next President will continue the aggressive push towards privatization, limiting collective bargaining rights, and profiteering for various education-related industries. When it comes to education policy, there is virtually no difference between Republicans and Democrats as illustrated by the efforts of people like Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Barack Obama, Mayor Bloomberg, etc.

It is indeed a difficult task to get policymakers to listen to people over corporations, but its not impossible. Labor and Civil Rights movements in our country's history have shown us that if supporters of equality come together in common cause, change is possible. Massive demonstrations and/or strikes have occurred in Philly, Chicago, and other places where corporate reform has decimated public schools. Parents and students are standing in solidarity with teachers. Everyone has to get involved in any way they can, so policymakers are held accountable by democratic mechanisms rather than teachers and public education being scapegoated by faulty metrics. This is just the beginning of the national effort to save the very foundation of our democracy.

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About Schools Inc.?

Description

Schools Incorporated? is a blog about how corporate interests are taking over our public education system at the expense of democracy, critical thinking, creativity, parents, teachers, and especially children. Schools Inc.? also provides strategies and resources, so people can join the growing resistance movement to corporate school reform.

Why This Is Important and Urgent

Our public education system is where the battle for a better future will be won or lost. Corporate school reformers know this and are spending millions of dollars lobbying and marketing to ensure they control the discourse now and for future generations.

Corporate interests are rapidly destroying our public education system. Lobbyist organizations like ALEC and Stand for Children (misnomer) are well-funded by corporations who are creating and controlling a new educational marketplace. This not only makes them profitable for generations, but also results in a society that is unable to recognize injustice.

The enforcement of research-refuted, high-stakes testing mandates eliminates what was left of critical thinking in public education. It makes sense that the foundations of corporations like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and others would not want people making critical consumer and political choices. The last thing they want is for a bunch of consumers to consider the manner in which products are made and their global impact.

Unfortunately, this is one of the ways the private prison industry is involved. ALEC lobbies on their behalf for high-stakes testing and zero-tolerance discipline policies that create a school-to-prison pipeline. Why? Its because ALEC also lobbies on behalf of corporate interests that want to use cheap prison labor. Chinese sweatshop workers are expensive compared to slaves. The companies involved with ALEC certainly don't want consumers thinking about that sort of thing.

Despite the fact that there is an obvious relationship between the arts, creativity, and the type of ingenuity and innovation that makes companies grow, those who are controlling education policy are driving the arts out of schools. Basically, if its not on the test, its not in the schools. This ensures their children who attend private schools that do not have testing mandates and therefore have a well-rounded curriculum, will have an advantage over everyone else. Eliminating the arts for a vast majority of students also means the creation of a deskilled workforce that can only complete tasks similar to the rote memorization and bubble filling required for a standardized test. They're lovin' it!

Corporate school reforms create a self-feeding cycle as they turn parents into consumers. Millions of dollars are spent on misleading marketing materials promoting charter schools (of course they don't tell you about the students who get kicked out). Similar to the way Wal-Mart wipes out local businesses, charter school conglomerates will wipe out neighborhood schools, smaller charter organizations, and probably a lot of private schools. Once the homogenization of the marketplace occurs, a very small handful of people will be controlling pretty much everything that is taught in schools.

The presence of charter schools that draw students from across the city as opposed to schools that only serve children from the neighborhood is disproportionately destabilization low-income communities of color. Social capital is accumulated when generations of family members have attended the same school and when parents and students are from the same community. Destroying this makes it all the more difficult for people to come together when faced with injustices.

Unfortunately, it also means children being exposed to more violence as they travel farther and farther to and from school. Of course, that's assuming their parents can afford the transportation costs, which is one of the ways charters serve as a socio-economic filter (they also have the ability to expel students without the due process required of regular public schools).

With the media and politicians being owned by some of the same corporate interests that are driving education reform (Gates, Murdoch), public opinion is being influenced by a false narrative. Teachers and schools are being measured with faulty metrics while high level administrators continue to be unaccountable for massive failures. Considering the damage this is doing to communities, schools, and students and what is at stake in terms of the bigger picture, the time to fight back is now!

A Better Future

Fortunately, there is an alternative. In his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire outlines a different vision of what a public education system can be - empowering and equalizing through critical thinking. In order to reach this Freirian vision of education and society, we must understand how corporate school reforms are taking us in the opposite direction and how to fight back.

Fighting Back

Schools Inc.? also provides information, tips, and strategies for spreading the word about the corporate takeover of our public school system and how people can join the growing resistance movement.

A Look at Chicago

Because U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan launched a public school privatization plan (Renaissance 2010) while CEO of the school district eight years ago, Schools Inc.? will often examine what has happened and continues to happen in Chicago. Duncan has now taken Renaissance 2010 national with Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants that make the receipt of federal funding contingent upon privatization and high-stakes testing.

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Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Obamney Education Plan

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