Schools Incorporated?

Friday, May 18, 2012

National Nurses Rally

Tom Morello singing Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" complete with the verses you didn't learn in school at the National Nurses United Rally in Chicago, May 18, 2012.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Parents in Chicago Support Real Education

A recent public opinion poll taken by the Chicago Tribune revealed that parents in Chicago side with the Chicago Teacher's Union over Mayor Rahm Emanuel when it comes to education policy by a ratio of 2:1. They overwhelmingly think teachers should get paid more for working more hours as the longer school day is implemented next year. Not surprisingly, African-American and Latino respondents were the most opposed to the Mayor's education plan. Their communities have been the most disrupted and disenfranchised.

Considering the disbanding of the Philadelphia public school system didn't make the national news, I'd be surprised if this does. There are parents across the country who feel the same way about corporate school reform (of course, Rahm's aggressive approach that disrespects parents doesn't exactly help his approval ratings). Along with the dissolution of Philly's public schools, this should be seen as another referendum on mayoral control and the top-down corporate school reform that results from it.

Arne Duncan was the CEO of Chicago's Public Schools after Paul Vallas who then worked for Philly's public schools (and later, New Orleans). Both were appointed under mayoral control and are staunch advocates of privatization. What happened in Philly is not a coincidence and what is happening nationwide to low-income, minority communities isn't either. Mayoral control is always the predecessor to massive privatization schemes that are harmful to parents, teachers, and children. Chicago Public School officials just announced they will be opening 60 more charters in spite of public opinion (and research). If you live in a city with mayoral control of schools, contact your state legislators and demand an elected school board ASAP.

Chicago owes a lot to its labor history, but particularly to the CTU and other organizations that have been fighting for over a decade for Chicago's children. In light of the corporate media, this is a glimmer of hope and proves you can't fool all the people all the time.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Real Reform vs. Corporate Reform

The quotes in this post illustrate the very different perspectives held by people on opposite sides of the education reform movement.

Dr. King was assassinated long before No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and other pro-corporate school "reform" legislation was passed. His words were prophetic nonetheless. His definition of true education is in line with the vision held by Paulo Freire, Diane Ravitch, Howard Zinn, and other progressive educators. His warnings about what could become of education when priorities are skewed are unfortunately, synonymous with the effects of corporate school reform.

Problems and Solutions

Below is the text of a one-page hand-out being distributed by Schools Inc.?. The intent is to provide people with information regarding the damaging effects of corporate school reform and resources they can use to do something about it.

***FRONT***

Our public education system is where the battle for a better future will be won or lost. Unfortunately, corporate interests know this and are influencing public education policy at the expense of democracy, critical thinking, creativity, parents, teachers, and especially children. A well-funded social engineering project is underway that is attempting to serve the plutocratic desires of the one percent.

Where's the Philly Phallout?

The Philadelphia Public School System announced last week that it will be effectively dissolving itself by closing 64 schools and splitting up the rest between private sector operators. You would think this would be big news, but hardly a word has been said about it in the mainstream media. This is indicative of media outlets that are being controlled by the same interests that want to privatize public education.

Stopping Child Abuse through Opting Out

From physical to mental, child abuse can take on many forms. Although it tends to primarily associated with what happens in an abusive home or relationship, it can also be the result of irresponsible policymaking. Even though testing can be a useful diagnostic tool, the results of the high-stakes nature of testing as a result of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are in many ways, perpetuating child abuse. The good news is that there is a growing resistance movement. Additionally, the insistence upon using this flawed method of evaluation gives the movement a clear target that if eliminated, will undo many of the injustices outlined below.

Children are under increasing pressure to “perform” at school, are increasingly exposed to violence, are subjected to zero-tolerance discipline policies, and have limited or no access to mental health services or creative outlets like art and music. Research has documented the psychological impact this has on students is detrimental. However, hearing personal stories from the parents, teachers, and students who are joining the resistance movement makes it even clearer that children are being subjected to abusive procedures with abusive results.

Connecting the Dots

Click here for larger ALEC chart

Generally speaking, when policymakers ignore substantial amounts of research, there is an agenda that is influenced by something other than the people affected by those policies. With the exception of climate science, there perhaps is no clearer example of this than with corporate school reform. Research has been fairly consistent in regards to the devastating effects of high-stakes testing and other market-based reforms. Yet, every year research along with the affected parents, teachers, and children, is ignored in favor of privatization.

The U.S.Department of Education is offering millions of dollars via Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants to states and districts for every school they handover to a private sector charter or turnaround organization. States are also rewarded for using high-stakes test based “accountability”. This is despite research that has shown these privately run schools are no better than their traditional counterparts and that standardized tests are not an accurate measure of student, teacher, and school performance. These corporate reforms have also created numerous other problems relative to segregation, school safety, and corruption.

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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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