Why Privatizers Don’t Care About Evidence

October 5, 2012 //

A reader writes:

This is the reason why no one listens to all the sound reasons presented so far.

“No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.” ~ Karl R. Popper

Categories ALEC, Education Industry, Education Reform, For-Profit, Privatization, Race to the Top, US Education

25 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

Peg Metzger ( NY) says:

October 5, 2012 at 11:17 pm

So true! love it. 🙂

Reply
ME says:

October 5, 2012 at 11:21 pm

Popper was the man! Love me some falsifiability.

Reply
- Coolio says:
  
  October 6, 2012 at 2:21 am
  
  Nope. For me, it’s fecundity all the way.
  
  Reply
susannunes says:

October 5, 2012 at 11:42 pm

It’s all about a neoliberal ideology, and it has polluted both political parties. We are going to lose it ALL if we don’t remain vigilant.

Reply
The New Orleans Imperative says:

October 5, 2012 at 11:57 pm

Great answer……….also the evidence doesn’t support their desired goal

Reply
Joan J. Strong says:

October 5, 2012 at 11:57 pm

The quote I’ve always used is this one:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair

You can substitute “salary” for any sort of vested interest.

Every day I argue with parents who love their privileged, segregated school which takes more than its fair share of funds from our public schools and whose growth is threatening to close our schools. When I tell them that charter schools are bad policy and are on their way to ripping our entire country apart just like the one in our area has ripped our community apart, they don’t want to hear it.

Bad education policy has given charter school parents the equivalent of free cigarettes, and they are hopelessly addicted. Of course, to continue the analogy, FDR thought cigarettes where good for you, just as Obama thinks that Charters are good for you.

Times changed then, and they’ll change again…

Reply
- mathcs says:
  
  October 6, 2012 at 8:37 am
  
  Charters seriously harm you and others around you
  
  Charters are addictive
  
  Your doctor or pharmacist can help you stop charters
  
  Charters can be lethal
  
  Charters are very quickly addictive: Don’t start in the first place!
  
  Charters die younger
  
  Charters may result in to a slow, painful death
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_packaging_warning_messages
  
  Reply
- Teaching Economist says:
  
  October 6, 2012 at 10:06 am
  
  That is a great quote and can be widely applied.
  
  Reply
  - ME says:
    
    October 6, 2012 at 6:31 pm
    
    I hope I’m not reading into your statement too much – I might be. Just tell me so.
    
    If you are insinuating that public school teachers are afraid for their salaries than think again. I am sure that I could find a different job with a better salary than what I make now, and that job would probably entail less stress and hassle than teaching.
    
    I love teaching, and I love kids, as quirky and naughty as they can be. I want what’s best for them, and I know that teachers, who are highly respected and paid enough money to cover their bills, are better for kids than a revolving door of young twenty-somethings that just need enough money to buy Taco Bell (and know too little to stand up for a just cause).
    
    The quote was directed at those people who, in their best interest (their own pocketbooks), are undermining public education in order to make a buck or save a buck.
    
    Hopefully, I completely mistook the tone of your post, and I am completely off the mark. Sorry if I did.
  - Teaching Economist says:
    
    October 6, 2012 at 7:25 pm
    
    I suppose I am suggesting that it applies to public school teachers in that I think it applies to everyone, including myself.
  - Joan J. Strong says:
    
    October 7, 2012 at 3:48 am
    
    I agree that it’s preposterous that teachers would be afraid for their salaries. Everybody ascribes these motives to them but it’s just ridiculous. That last reason every you go into teaching is for the money. It goes double in Silly Valley here where kids out of college clear $120k the five star resort benefits. People go ape over $200k salaries for senior district administrators not understanding that the equivalent salary in the real world is 50% more, and in SV its double or triple that.
    
    No, I wasn’t even talking about money. I’m talking about xenophobic parents who have found an oasis from all of the challenges and diversity of their neighborhood in a charter school. If you wonder what makes otherwise liberal-leaning people suddenly spewing libertarian privatization, crony-capitalism, union-busting, and segregation, it’s because they have a vested interest in keeping their kids away from the “undesirables”. These parents don’t want to hear the facts.
Eric says:

October 6, 2012 at 1:49 am

Privatizers Don’t Care About Evidence because the privatizers aren’t in the business of using evidence to benefit schoolchildren.

Healthcare has a better track record of establishing “standards of care” that use evidence to benefit patients, see:

What if Research Really Mattered – by Diane Ravitch
Being Misread: A Lesson in Vigilance – Clare Crawford-Mason
http://www.managementwisdom.com/bemileinvi.html

When educators resist evidence-based practices they give privatizers the opportunity to appeal to “the invisible hand of the marketplace.”

Speaking with Margaret Warner last September 14, Justice Souter spoke of how democracy end: We will fail to solve political problems and in desperation hand responsible over to someone who promises a fix. His solution: better civics education.

Therein lies a chicken-and-egg dilemma.

Reply
Michael Fiorillo says:

October 6, 2012 at 8:28 am

Well, as Rpnald Reagan said, “Facts are stupid things,” and why would you want them to interfere with a sure-fire investment opportunity?

Reply
moosesnsquirrels says:

October 6, 2012 at 9:31 am

Readers wondering about this question may find some help here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9503044/Climate-change-deniers-are-either-extreme-free-marketeers-or-conspiracy-theorists.html

The money quote:

The paper, titled “NASA faked the moon landing – Therefore (Climate) Science is a Hoax: An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science”, was based on a survey of more than 1000 visitors to blogs dedicated to discussion of climate change.

“We find that endorsement of a laissez-faire conception of free-market economics predicts rejection of climate science,” the paper says. “We additionally show that endorsement of a cluster of conspiracy theories (e.g., that the CIA killed Martin Luther King or that NASA faked the moon landing) predicts rejection of climate science as well as the rejection of other scientific findings.”

The paper says that a staunch belief in free markets was an overwhelmingly strong factor in the rejection of climate science and was a stronger factor than conspiratorial thinking.

The paper, titled “NASA faked the moon landing – Therefore (Climate) Science is a Hoax: An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science”, was based on a survey of more than 1000 visitors to blogs dedicated to discussion of climate change.

“We find that endorsement of a laissez-faire conception of free-market economics predicts rejection of climate science,” the paper says. “We additionally show that endorsement of a cluster of conspiracy theories (e.g., that the CIA killed Martin Luther King or that NASA faked the moon landing) predicts rejection of climate science as well as the rejection of other scientific findings.”

The paper says that a staunch belief in free markets was an overwhelmingly strong factor in the rejection of climate science and was a stronger factor than conspiratorial thinking.

Ironic, given that the whole basis for laissez-faire economics is the concept of the rational individual who can determine his or her own best interest.

Reply
- teachingeconomist says:
  
  October 6, 2012 at 10:08 am
  
  I also suspect that staunch belief in the Christian god is an overwhelmingly strong factor in the rejection of all science.
  
  Reply
  - moosesnsquirrels says:
    
    October 6, 2012 at 10:56 am
    
    But not a Jewish God or a Muslim God? No, I think the article was clear about the tendency of those who claim to believe in laissez-faire to reject scientific evidence.
- teachingeconomist says:
  
  October 6, 2012 at 10:16 am
  
  Just found this survey of economists: 94% say that the US should join In climate agreements to limit global warming, 91% favoring cap and trade plans. Personally I like a carbon tax combined with exempting the first $20,000 in labor earnings from payroll taxes, but cap and trade will work as well. You can find the link here: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2009-11-03-economist-climate_N.htm
  
  Reply
  - moosesnsquirrels says:
    
    October 6, 2012 at 10:57 am
    
    My point was that laissez-faire believers, who typically support charters and vouchers, often reject scientific evidence that conflicts with their world view. I’m not interested in starting a debate about market incentives to deal with climate change.
  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    October 6, 2012 at 3:17 pm
    
    I know that was your point, I just disagree. The british publication The Economist, a bastion of free market advocacy, frequently editorializes about the problem of man made global warming.
    
    My point was not about environmental policy, but that an overwhelming majority of economists accept the scientific evidence concerning global warming and advocate for policies based on that evidence.
- Duane Swacker says:
  
  October 6, 2012 at 2:00 pm
  
  Everyone knows that it wasn’t the CIA that killed MLK, they got JFK. It was the FBI who got MLK.
  
  Reply
Marlene says:

October 6, 2012 at 12:47 pm

If people have already made up their minds, no amount of fact or reason will change them. I have found that my opinions, beliefs, philosophy have changed over the course of the years as new facts have been presented to me or I have discovered the error in some of my thinking. If ones mind has never been changed one is in serious danger.

Reply
searchingforagrainofsanity says:

October 6, 2012 at 1:23 pm

I’ve been saying it this way for a number of years . . . “Data is of no use in in irrational argument.”

Reply
- dianerav says:
  
  October 6, 2012 at 2:24 pm
  
  My view: Ideology trumps evidence every time.
  
  Reply
  - Lilac says:
    
    October 6, 2012 at 3:08 pm
    
    And will the fake Obama ideogy of “hope” prevail? We certainly have seen “change.”The “change” I am speaking about is probably the fastest privatization and corruption of public entities in our nation’s history. Can’t blame Bush for this one.
searchingforagrainofsanity says:

October 6, 2012 at 2:36 pm

Diane,
Have you seen this? “What a Deal – Stand for Children’s Ballot Initiative” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67xnPGg_lN8&feature=related

Reply