Frank Breslin, a retired high school teacher of history and world languages, has written an eloquent article about the corporate assault on public education and explains why this assault endangers democracy and the American dream of equal opportunity.
He begins in this way:
A specter is haunting America – the privatization of its public schools, and Big Money has entered into an unholy alliance to aid and abet it. Multi-billionaire philanthropists, newspaper moguls, governors, legislators, private investors, hedge fund managers, testing and computer companies are making common cause to hasten the destruction of public schools.
This assault also targets the moral and social vision that inspired the creation of public schools – the belief in a free and inclusive democratic society that unites all of us in a common destiny as we struggle together toward a just society and a better life for ourselves and our children.
Public schools were the welcoming gateway to equal opportunity for our nation’s children. The fate of Old Europe with its assigned stations in life, its divinely-appointed places in the order of things, was not to be ours as Americans. Inspired by the stories of Horatio Alger, we would seek our fortune because this was America, the country where dreams came true; the land of promise, where pluck, hard work, and a bit of luck would carry the day.
This was the manifest destiny of the poor and marginalized who came to these shores, and public-school children were ushered into this grand tradition of exalted ideals. The poor and the homeless, the sick and the hungry could lay claim to our help because that is what a great nation did – took care of its own, especially those who through no fault of their own couldn’t care for themselves. This was a radiantly humane vision in a dark and indifferent world, a belief that would insure our survival in mutual concern as a compassionate people.
Public schools were the flame-keepers of this national creed enshrined in FDR’s New Deal, now under radical assault by corporate America and their neoliberal acolytes who would drag the 99 percent back into the Dark Ages of Social Darwinism, the law of the jungle where might makes right, and the poor and weak go to the wall.
The Gates, Broad, Walton, and Koch Foundations deserve special mention in unleashing Armageddon upon our public schools, all the while preening themselves hypocritically as angels of light. So intent are these Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in their class warfare against their own country that the sacrifice of millions of public-school children as collateral damage means nothing to them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The Gates, Broad, Walton, and Koch Foundations deserve special mention in unleashing Armageddon upon our public schools, all the while preening themselves hypocritically as angels of light. So intent are these Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in their class warfare against their own country that the sacrifice of millions of public-school children as collateral damage means nothing to them.”
As sad and as infuriating as it is beautifully written.
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I am increasingly concerned about NPR’s coverage of Education Reform given that this “four horsemen” are also major contributors to public radio. This morning’s Morning Edition interview with resigned LA Superintendent Deasey was a perfect example. It seemed like the interview was suggesting that it is merely the pace (meaning too quickly) and not the content of the reforms at issue. We need to demand NPR remain unbiased, despite their corporate sponsors positions.
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Excellent article by Frank Breslin. It says it all.
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We so called reformers see the glass half full when looking at the same info Breslin does. His comment of “the law of the jungle where might makes right, and the poor and weak go to the wall” has merit. We reformers have also witnessed and fear. The difference is, the traditional public school system has in fact been attacked by politicians and unions. For decades we have thrown money into the system, trusted teachers, and paid unions ransom demands trying to do the right thing and hoped for the best.
The results are in….more money didn’t work. Unions refuse to triage good and bad teachers or often times terminate those who sexually attacked our youth. It is time for change. And no, Gates, Koch Bros, Walton, etc., etc. don’t have all the answers and perhaps only a few of the answers but they are trying to help by using their wealth. They don’t have secret business relationships to reap billions in profits as many believe, they wealthy, concerned citizens trying to do the right thing as they see it.
The reformers aren’t the devil, they are just looking at that same half full glass and suggesting there is more than one view….a view that might work.
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When the reformers utilize underhanded tactics and stack the decks in their favor – when laws and regulations are changed to allow TFA – when donations equal end-profits, when contributions equal privatization and hedge fund package the deal into a way to rape the public of its hard-earned tax dollars, when teachers are subjected to being held accountable for all of the ills of their students, etc., something is wrong, and the benefactors are only in it for themselves. Get that right.
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Also, the reform movement is a war against middle class female teachers. True. AND, what they did in New Orleans is horrendous, then to thy to spread that reform around everywhere, is evil.
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This is a false interpretation of the role of unions, teacher’s unions in particular, made up of the real professionals the politicians have ignored. The politicians look to the self proclaimed reformers for another quick fix. They have never helped teachers to fully do their job but have opted for the overly simplistic. Diane Ravitch has the reform necessary right here but we have never done it:
“My own view is that we should stop looking for the ‘secret sauce’ because it is a chimera. Instead, we should do what we know works, which is reduced class sizes, early childhood education, family education, experienced teachers, healthy children, a full and rich curriculum, and the wraparound services that children need. But all that is complicated, not simple; our data-driven reformers like simple solutions, the bumper sticker ideas.”
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If they’re trying to help as you believe rather than just control, they should be open to input, they should try their experiments on a small scale and they should stop pretending to be God.
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Ideas about school reform should be about teaching and learning, not about unions. Unions serve to ensure that teachers receive due process. They often support dismissal of incompetent teachers. What has happened in the “reform” movement is that reformers have waged an unfair war against public education. These presumed “reformers” have lied, cheated and stolen millions of dollars from poor children and caused undo harm to thousands of poor children as they destroy neighborhood schools. Corrupt state governments have been complicit. They take bribes in the form of campaign contributions, take away local control over schools, and transfer students against their wills. This is NOT democracy. Too many sharks and crooks have entered this lucrative scam that some say is the new mortgage fraud of our times. If you have followed this blog, you know that charter management companies have misreported enrollment figures and scores and refused to report donors. This is not reform! This is collusion to commit fraud with taxpayers’ money.
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Milton Hershey set up a wonderful school. Why don’t the wealthy set up similar schools-using their own money.
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Perhaps they want to maximize the number of people they are able to reach, and they are keenly aware that even fantastically large sums of money don’t go very far in public K-12.
Julius Rosenwald, for example, would have ended up helping a lot fewer children if he hadn’t insisted on having his private money matched with public: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenwald_School
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It was very interesting to read about Mr. Rosenwald. He did insist on contributions from the community and the National Trust for Historic Preservation article did say that most money to support the schools came from the school districts. That said, at that time (primarily 1920s-1930s), schools for African Americans were not being properly supported (funded) by their districts. Rosenwald grants had other conditions with regard to building layout, length of school year and school furniture. Some of these conditions seemed pickayune to me, but the conditions were not burdensome to the students. Now, in 2014, we are again in a time when schools are not being properly funded. Is this due to racism, as in the 1920’s and 1930’s? What are the responses of the wealthy? Of course there are donations to individual charters and chains (see Ms. Moskowitz’s chain), but most conditions revolve around punitive, expensive testing (where the wealthy will more than recoup their donations). Mr. Rosenwald’s actions and motivations seem far removed from what is going on today.
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The kinder gentler “reforms” have always existed for parents who want to and are able to drink them. The larger message and intent of current reform is to take what is left in the half filled glass. Having gulped freely and smiled, the reforming class dabs at the wet on the corner of their mouths, blames the ever more noticeable emptiness on the public’s thirst, and uses their ability to take water as evidence of worthiness to decide how the rest of the water should be dispensed.
Our economy and political system need to be repurposed to serve and sustain the majority and democracy locally, not dominate globally, and our schools are the best hope for that. The global domination water-drinkers know it, and to ensure compliance, servitude and caste: “reform” water will remain available to those who can afford it-“reform” marching orders and a wet rag for survival will be available to all others.
Maybe the uber-wealthy have some noble intent, but the most visible and vocal way reform is executed is through disrespect and disempowerment. The reason public school results are harder and harder to come by is that wealth is built in this nation, these days, not so much by working-creating-inspiring, but by buying-owning-controlling the work and the wealth of others.
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Histrionic at best. Armageddon . . . sheesh.
“Public schools were the welcoming gateway to equal opportunity for our nation’s children.”
Historians know better than to say such things about a time when schooling was only for people who were white, male, wealthy, and Protestant.
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WT simple thinking, not historically informed. Granted there are long-standing and deep-seated problems in securing equal opportunity, but your exaggerations are histrionic. Suggest you look at this website. http://sitemaker.umich.edu/educationalequity/african_american_timeline
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The source for many of the historical facts listed on that web page is a book written by Carter G. Woodson.
Today, in 2014, PS 23, The Carter G. Woodson School, whose zone is about two miles from the millionaires rows of the Brookyn Heights and Williamsburg waterfronts, has a student population that is 100% black and Latino and 100% free-lunch eligible. 3% of the fifth graders it graduated this spring are proficient in ELA. It is not unusual or atypical; there are many NYC DOE elementary schools that are similar.
The 20th century American public school system saw staggering inequities, de jure and then de facto, in the educational opportunities available to people of color. Little has changed in the 21st. WT’s assessment was hardly an exaggeration.
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Tim,
I am a historian of education. The American school system has always mirrored our society. But the school system was better than society. Yes, it was segregated, as was our society. Yes, there are segregated schools today. But you distort the historical record as does WT when you deny the huge importance of public education in providing an escape from poverty for millions of people. You distort the record when you deny the importance of public education in helping millions of people of all races and creeds to better their lives. And you ignore that today our most segregated schools are charter schools, not public schools. Do something about it. Don’t badmouthing public education. I would not be where I am today without the public schools.
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Yes, Tim, stop badmouthing public education by noting that there is our public schools are extremely segregated.
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I think Tim’s point is not that public schools were segregated, but that publc schools are segregated.
There is an obvious unaknowledged trade off between forcing students in a neighborhood to all attend the same school and integrating schools. Openly discussing this tradeoff would be helpful in a discussion about a better education for all.
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Ravitch gets mad at me because I “deny the huge importance of public education in providing an escape from poverty for millions of people.”
Wait, haven’t I read in about a hundred other posts here that education isn’t the solution to poverty, and that we need to address poverty head-on before we can expect urban schools to do any better?
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A request to the owner of this blog: could you put out a call for a better class of shills and trolls?
Time and time again the point has been made on this blog that public education is ONE of the ways, not THE way, to help escape poverty.
As in, er, adding the second sentence of this excerpt from dianeravitch (11/17/14, 3:02PM) to the first:
“But you distort the historical record as does WT when you deny the huge importance of public education in providing an escape from poverty for millions of people. You distort the record when you deny the importance of public education in helping millions of people of all races and creeds to better their lives.”
So what is it called when someone tries a “gotcha” and get “gotcha-ed”?
“Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.” [John Steinbeck]
😱
And I didn’t even need an old dead Greek guy…
😎
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Thank heavens I was not the only one to see this. Also, not being able to care for oneself was a major reason immigrants were NOT allowed to stay in the US — no visible means of support, likely to become a burden on society. This article was, as a whole, a romanticized and murky, I thought.
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Calling all shills, calling all trolls…
Who needs facts, logic and decency when you’ve got Gates, Broad, Walton and Koch on your side?
😳
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” [Charlie Chaplin]
This day will not go wasted.
😎
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“Trolling for Dollars”
The trolls are waiting under bridge
To pounce upon the passing kids
Disguised as broads and billy goats
With candy and with diet kochs
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Only in the closed silo that is ed reform is the fact that wealthy people have WAY too much influence over US politicians at all disputed.
This isn’t a fringe view. It’s blindingly obvious that wealthy people have a way outsized role in influencing public policy. Everyone in the country thinks wealthy people have WAY too much influence in government. Ed reformers and public schools are the single exception. For whatever reason, ed reformers DO NOT believe wealthy people have too much influence, re: public schools.
In fact, President Obama says he believes wealthy people have too much influence over government. I guess he makes an exception for their influence over education policy since his administration has been SO influenced by Gates and Broad and Walton(s), but that really doesn’t make much sense.
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“Standardized Rulers”
Our rulers are now standardized
With dollars as their measure
To allocate the standard lies
And portion public treasure
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So, is everything the Walton family does to influence public policy completely above reproach and aboveboard, or JUST what they do regarding public schools?
The Waltons are GOOD when they lobby and fund charter schools, but BAD when they lobby and fund campaigns to keep wages low and deny health insurance to poor people?
Billionaire influence over lawmakers is GOOD when they’re attacking public schools but BAD when they’re attacking raising the minimum wage?
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Here’s President Obama, very upset over the influence of billionaires on lawmakers:
“You have some ideological extremists who have a big bankroll, and they can entirely skew our politics.'”
Except the Walton, Gates and Broad families, who are A-OK with President Obama. The fact that these three groups are running public ed policy for millions of US public schools children is somehow not a problem. In fact, it’s great! THEY can “totally skew our politics” on public schools, and President Obama welcomes that!
If you believe that wealthy people have too much influence over US public policy (and most Americans do believe this, according to polling) why make the single exception for education and public schools?
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Obama occasionally throws progressives, liberals, socialists…Obamanomics or whatever…a bone like this, but he’s revealed his own ideological extremist self, and his disrespect of educators.
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“The marriage of Convenience”
The marriage of convenience
Is spotted with “lamenting”
Which really is expedience
That masquerades as venting
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Some things came together as I read this post and another that followed it later in the day.
In the this post, there is mention of Armageddon and class warfare.
The Gates, Broad, Walton, and Koch Foundations deserve special mention in unleashing Armageddon upon our public schools, all the while preening themselves hypocritically as angels of light. So intent are these Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in their class warfare against their own country that the sacrifice of millions of public-school children as collateral damage means nothing to them.
In a post that follows this, there is a reference to Milton Friedman, the free-market guru of shock doctrine and disaster capitalism.
To Mitchell, his schools are simply an example of the triumph of the free market. “People here think it’s unholy if you make a profit” from schools, he said in July while attending a country-club luncheon to celebrate the legacy of free-market sage Milton Friedman.
So if we combine class warfare and shock doctrine, or perhaps shock and awe, what came to my mind was blitzkrieg. I was struck by what has happened and is happening in and to public education as it seems like the the corporate / political / philanthropic deformers have taken the financial opportunities of shock doctrine and ramped them up with an almost militaristic attack on the public school system – a financial and social blitzkrieg.
But then again, I’m just a retired teacher and not a historian.
The description of blitzkrieg below was taken from:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/blitzkrieg.htm
Blitzkrieg was based on speed, co-ordination and movement; the major science of this approach was the ability to get large mobile forces through weak points in the enemies defences and then cause damage when behind his static lines. With large formations cut off from communication and logistics, pressure could then be put on interior defences. Its aim was to create panic amongst the civilian population. A civil population on the move can be absolute havoc for a defending army trying to get its forces to the war front. With so much focus placed on the frontline, if this could be penetrated then the ensuing doubt, confusion and rumour were sure to paralyse both the government and the defending military.
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Walmart stock is down. I no longer shop there. If they are messing with the welfare of my students and also with the livelihood of the teaching profession, I am not buying any of their products.
I know that I am only one teacher and parent, but if more teachers in the U.S. refuse to shop there – – it could make a difference. Besides, I don’t think they are that cheap, and their Great Value brand is not good. I will drive an extra mile to avoid going there. It is well worth it to me.
All of the comments on this blog have been excellent. The evil billionaires and politicians are doing everything they can to get us to a one world order. The first step to forming a one world order, in my opinion, is to destroy our public school systems. That way they can deny education to whomever they choose.
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Pithy,alarming, and right on point. The most disturbing thing to me is the number of educators, especially schoolteachers, supporting one or another aspect of this unholy war against public education.
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