Ed Eiler was superintendents of the Lafayette, Indiana, schools. In this article, he explains how corporatist Republicans have tried to turn education into a commodity instead of a common good that belongs to all.
He writes:
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
– Elie Wiesel
Three recent newsworthy items deserve our attention. The first is a study in the American Educational Research Journal, which concluded rising income inequality in the U.S. is a primary cause of the growing economic segregation of schools. As the gap grows, affluent families are more likely to segregate themselves into enclaves where there are few poor children in the public schools.
The second is a report issued by the Indiana Department of Education that calculated the net increased cost for the state’s education voucher program to be $53.2 million. Some 52 percent of voucher students now have no record of attending a public school.
The final report is one completed by the National Conference of State Legislatures addressing educational reform. The report acknowledges there are no silver bullets and the present efforts at reform have failed. The report recognizes the importance of having all stakeholders be a part of the process of improving our schools.
Why does any of this matter? All of these reports can be tied to the effort to privatize education.
So, vouchers are not being used to help “poor students escape from failing public schools,” since most kids who use vouchers never attended a public school. They are simply an effort to privatize what belongs to the public.
Eiler writes:
The American public school system has been where students of different economic classes, religious backgrounds and ethnic communities come together to develop a sense of community and a commitment to the common good.
Because of income inequality, we are increasingly leading separate lives. Sandell asserts, “Democracy doesn’t demand absolute equality, but does require people to share a common life.”
[Michael] Sandell concludes that ultimately this is “… not an economic question. The question is how do we want to live together? Do we want a society where everything is up for sale or are there certain moral and civic goods that markets do not honor and money cannot buy?”
That is why all of this matters, why we should oppose privatizing our schools and why we should elect people who support our public schools. I may be powerless to prevent it, but the privatization of education is an injustice, and I must protest.
Hang on to your hats. This is obscene. Bet those data miners are sneaks and they are indeed DANGEROUS.
For the ALEC package of reforms for Indiana, not limited to vouchers and set up as a model for other states, see
https://www.alec.org/model-policy/indiana-education-reform-package/
ALEC stands for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate funded lobby for free-market policies.
and very intentionally the ALEC goal has been to eschew federal government by going directly for control over those state governorships….one by one by one
The minute we try to divert money from the common good into a market, we introduce a system of winners and losers. The biggest loss will be to the institution that formerly served all with some measure of intention of equality. Our country is short sighted and naive if they allow public school dollars to go to private schools so some students can attend segregated schools of questionable value while they simultaneously hobble those that serve all students. If our nation wants to enhance the already big divide among the socio-economic classes in our society, it is exactly what privatization does. The government should be serving all members of society, not just the wealthy. What does it say about us if we allow the rich to crush everyone else? America should stand for equality, not vulture capitalism and special interests.
Like!
retired teacher writes: “The minute we try to divert money from the common good into a market, we introduce a system of winners and losers.”
Well-said. That’s the basic insight that’s missing from those who seem to think there is no fundamental difference between (a) the principles of common good as manifest in our public schools and (b) capitalism or worse, as you say, vulture capitalism as encroaching on what should remain public institutions.
I know from my own experience that many (how many, I don’t know but it’s suggested by the support of privatization by those who will suffer its effects) . . . still don’t know the difference between a political system (democracy in particular) and the monetary system that it employs (capitalism)–so how can they know and field the difference between institutions aimed directly at fostering the common good (not to mention the commonwealth).and those that want to first take advantage of it, and then destroy it, namely, corporations and the short-sighted oligarchs who are presently taking over the government.
So gawdawful Rumpian and Randian.
There a many examples of failed “private-public” ventures including roads that lead to nowhere half finished in some states. Paul Ryan is trying to destroy the defined benefit of Medicare and turn it into a market place voucher of finite value. Seniors would have to pay twice as much for half the care. It makes no sense for elderly people on fixed incomes. Once again, it will be about winners and losers. Here’s a link to Peter Greene’s latest post on failed privatization ventures. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2017/01/how-privatization-works-part-2351142.html
From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs. A society without classes. A great idea.
“A society without classes.”
YEP! And then we wouldn’t have to pay all those union thug just waiting to retire with their golden parachute teachers, eh!! No classes no teachers.
Duane–I may be wrong, but I think that was a “slam” at Diane for (by the writer’s calculation) being a socialist.
Diane can correct me, but I don’t think so. Oligarchic takeover leading to fascism doesn’t equate to saving us from socialism.
Those union ” thugs” are former classroom teachers who have worked many extra hours outside the classroom to gain resources for students and staff. When I worked in a levislarir’s ofc, those ‘thugs’ were the ones who most consistently showed up to lobby for their students, schools, and colleagues. Thank God for ‘thugs’ like them.
YEP!
The philosopher Eiler quotes is Michael Sandel, not Michael Sandell. Doesn’t anyone look things up anymore?
School vouchers are a pretty recent development. Good luck trying to convince us that we lived under communism until then.
Grandma should have proofed my copy. It should have read when I worked on a “legislator’s” staff.