Joe Bower is an educator who wants to reform education. But he has no sympathy for the rampant privatization that is now overtaking U.S. education with the support of the Obama administration. And it will only get worse under a Romney administration. In the post linked here, he has a video showing an advertisement for one of those aggressive for-profit operations now targeting American school children.
Why isn’t Secretary Duncan on the stump warning parents about these educational predators?
Technology is a good thing when used appropriately. But when advanced as it is now to lay off teachers and close schools, it is a disgrace. As Bower writes, children need real teachers, not home schooling by computer.
Time to say no. And say it loud.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
That video was one of the scariest I have seen in reference to reform. Beats the Rheeject. WOW! I am sick!
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That’s one of the stupidest and most disgusting ads I have seen in my lifetime.
It was produced by Ashford University, which has come under a bit of scrutiny over the past severn years or so. An audit by the U.S. Department of Education in 2005-2009 revealed serious problems. According to the audit, Ashford “rewarded recruiters based on their success in securing enrollments; improperly retained at least $1.1-million during the 2006-7 period; kept credit balances without the proper authorization; and took too long to return money awarded to students who withdrew.”
During the 2011 Senate hearings regarding this audit, Senator Tom Harkin, who chaired the hearing, reportedly said, “I think this is a scam, an absolute scam.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashford_University
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Is it Ashford University that I keep seeing on ads during the Olympics? I think the ad has something to do with technology.
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There are a lot of well-intentioned teachers out there who are being used to advance the for-profit technology privateers.
If teacher aren’t careful, we become accomplices to our own demise.
Thanks for the shout out, Diane.
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Keep up your great work!
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When the technological wave fails to produce the desired educational results, will a class room with a teacher and students fully engaged in the learning process, face to face and in real time be the “new” ideal? Will this also then be packaged and sold in the future?
Congress should pass a law which makes it illegal to exploit schools, teachers, and students for profit. Education is not a commodity but a right. Keep your hands off my students and stay out of my class room. The economic “mining” of the public school system is criminal and immoral.
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Because Duncan is one of the profiteers. If he is keeping a distance, and he really isn’t, it will show when he leaves his post.
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They were certainly not taped in a school!
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That is disturbing and sickening. “This place is dumb”? No wonder we get no respect!
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Joe Bower’s blog “For the love of Learning” filled with good insight and information. Profiteering on the backs of children and teachers is unconscionable. Technology has no standing when it comes to the interpersonal relationships between students and teachers that support learning.
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