A reader sends this comment:
While Business fails in Education, Education is certainly good for Business:
1) Quick Turnaround Teachers are funded by Walton, Dell, Gates….http://www.teachforamerica.org/support-us/donors
2) Corporate-funded CCSS http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/idUS157777+01-Feb-2012+BW20120201
3) Backed by corporate-advertising http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM_G4Y7SX3g
4) Opening new corporate marketing channels http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/56868-scholastic-new-technology-programs-aimed-at-the-common-core.html
3) in corporate-funded charter schools http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/mediacenter/top-five-grantees
4) advocated by corporate-funded “front men” http://www.ctunet.com/blog/memphis-district-to-lose-212-million-to-charter-schools-by-2016
5) so corporations can steal children’s data without parental consent http://educationnewyork.com/files/FERPA-ccsss.pdf
6) So they can create more “personalized products” http://www.classsizematters.org/new-york-state-inbloom-inc-fact-sheet/
7) And them move on to PERPETUATE “corporate-takeover-of-education” policies http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2012/01/john_white_appointed_chief_of_louisiana_schools.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-FB
All we need now is for TV shows and Movies to start incorporating the benefits of Common Core into their character’s personalities. Actually, the whole takeover of education is almost like a movie script itself!!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Big Bang Theory already had a TFA poster a couple of episodes ago. I was so disappointed.
Product placement
Education is a big business:
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2013/01/partners-in-crime.html?view=snapshot
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2013/02/pampered-vs-punished.html?view=snapshot
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-post_5636.html?view=snapshot
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-post_3787.html?view=snapshot
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-post_7246.html?view=snapshot
http://thetruthoneducationreform.blogspot.com/2013/01/lets-privatize.html?view=snapshot
To every person who comments on an Indiana online newspaper article with, “We continue to throw more money at education and we aren’t getting any better results…”
I say, “I couldn’t disagree with you more.”
Millions of dollars to McGraw-Hill for an online ISTEP test is not money spent on education.
Millions more dollars for a longitudinal database to collect our children’s information and give that private information to corporate edu-businesses is not money spent on education.
Millions of dollars for contracts with Pearson and other corporations for superfluous data-collecting programs is not money spent on education.
Millions of dollars simply to build infrastructure to support Federal standards that are copyrighted and out of control of the local educators is not money spent of education.
Millions of dollars given to failing, for profit charter schools as a bailout is not money spent on education.
Money our state representatives have recently spent for a punitive A-F system or a flawed and impossible RISE evaluation model is not money spent on education.
Perhaps your legislators are throwing more of your taxpayer money at huge corporations raking in record profits from education (which in turn are bankrolling your elected officials next campaign), but, as a classroom teacher, I assure you, your money has not been spent on education.
Well stated!!
Nice, John. Money spent “on education” business is different than the money that supports learners, their schools and their teachers.
What John said!
Great response to the $ thing.
I will borrow frequently.
Thanks,
I can take any budget and bust it. Look at what Rhee did in D.C. with $29,145/student. You have to work real hard to mess that up. How many of you would like that funding for your students? As they say “This is big business” and it is for them. K-12 general fund is more in the U.S. than the DOD budget which is about $642 billion and K-12 is over $700 billion and that is without school construction bonds which at LAUSD is $27 billion alone. People kill for a lot less than that and this is a new profit center to be raped and pillaged.
The 60 Minutes profile of Robin Hood Foundation chairman, Paul Tudor Jones II shows how the 1% run in packs. The Foundation raises huge amounts of money ostensibly to make a difference in the lives of the poor. Most of the money goes to charter schools in NYC. It would be interesting to know how the donors and board members are connected to companies that are poised to make a killing on privatized public education. At least the piece acknowledged that the students do somewhat better in math but not in English at the schools that they fund. Also their expensive new schools are owned not by the people of New York, but by the foundation. When the privatizers fail who knows what will become of these brand new schools.
Oh I’m sure the bills will be sent to the taxpayer. Charter schools aren’t helping poor children. Also, people need to look closely at relatives or other friends making money off of the charters.
We now have officially produced
“ASSEMBLY LINE EDUCATION”
Anyone ever worked on an assembly line during the summer? I did!!
These big corporations have succeeded in treating the children of America like a product from an assembly line completely dehumanizing the educational process.
This is sad…but will completely fail..Karma is a ********
Excellent points, Mr. Stoffel and others, and hopefully, NCLB will not be renewed next year/ And hopefully, no other mind-numbing legislation will take its place. But, let’s not depend on hope, people! We need to either become the players in this and turn it around, or get people elected who could work with others to focus on a better educational system. In many cases, “It ain’t broke!”; so why is money being wasted on “fixing” it?