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.

Occupy Department of Education

From March 30th to April 2nd, 2012, United Opt Out National held the "Occupy the Department of Education" rally in front of the DOE building in Washington D.C. Although there were no people sleeping in tents and clashing with the police, the term "occupy" was fitting. 

The 1 percent is controlling what is taught to the 99 percent and it is the same narrow set of neo-liberal, free-market ideas (i.e. deregulation and privatization) that screwed up our financial and health care systems that is now destroying public education. All of this is being done so charter and turnaround school executives, testing companies, and the privatized prison industry can make millions of dollars off the backs of mostly poor, minority children. It is also the same people who have profited from a system that purposely creates and sustains inequality who are now financing corporate school "reform" (Broads, Gates, Waltons, etc.).