Veteran journalist Peg Tyre has been nominated for the prestigious George Polk Award for her story about for-profit Bridge International Academies, which seeks to make money by taking over the schooling of students in Africa.
The teachers have a script and an iPad. The lessons are written in the U.S. The kids get higher scores but the costs far exceed what the government spends for education.
Now if only she would write about the depredations of the for-profit education industry in the U.S., which succeeds by making campaign contributions to politicians and then avoids accountability.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The teachers have a script and an iPad. The lessons are written in the U.S. The kids get higher scores but the costs far exceed what the government spends for education.”
This is Trump’s racist prescription for countries he says are s**t-holes.
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I wish we could lay this catastrophe at Trump’s door. Unfortunately, the neoliberal crowd with their belief that the free market can fix anything and everything are responsible for this one. Greed somehow gets in the way of “doing good” and focuses on making a profit.
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The neoliberals are not alone. There are also the neoconservatives that once were members of the Democratic Party and switched to the GOP after Regan seduced them to cross over and support him. Then there is the Koch brothers greed is grade brand of libertarianism that excludes everyone that isn’t’ wealthy.
Surely, a little more than 2,000 members in ALEC doesn’t represent the rest of the United States, and how many working Americans with student debt or credit card debt would waste $100 for a two-year membership in ALEC?
ALEC’s membership represents 0.00062-percent of the total population but Trump’s cabinet is almost all members of ALEC and the GOP is mostly owned and controlled by ALEC.
When anyone focuses on only placing blame on the neoliberals and the Democratic Party they belong to, then that blurs the total picture of who is really to blame.
The Week.com published a piece about The Decline and fall of neoliberalism in the Democratic Party
“If the Democrats have one thing in common, it’s their shared hatred of President Trump. His shocking win over Hillary Clinton and the subsequent madness of his rule have galvanized the party in a way unseen in at least a decade. Yet their unity in opposition masks lingering and deep fissures in the party.”
http://theweek.com/articles/725419/decline-fall-neoliberalism-democratic-party
Hillary’s defeat might well be the signal that the neoliberals in the Democratic Party are out.
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You are right, Lloyd, that there is plenty of blame to go around. No one group owns this particular program/policy/idea. The idea of making a profit while providing some sort of “charitable” support is not bad in and of itself. It’s when the mission gets replaced by profit as the primary driver. There is a lot not to like about Bridge International separate from questioning their motives. I am not against some return on investment if a program is providing substantial, credible benefits.
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But public dollars that support public schools should not get hijacked and redirected to a for-profit business or a non-profit that benefits the CEO/owner net worth.
For instance:
Charter Schools Spend More On Administration, Less On Instruction Than Traditional Public Schools: Study
Public schools are often criticized and scrutinized for perceived administrative bloat, tied to concerns that those sitting behind desks in district offices are diverting funds away from investment in students. Conversely, charter schools are touted for successes through their leaner administrative model, allowing for more resources to go directly to classrooms.
But a new study by the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education debunks this belief. By looking at charter and traditional public schools in Michigan, where both receive about the same operational funding, researchers found that charter schools actually spent more per-student on administration and less on instruction than non-charter public schools.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/charter-schools-spend-mor_n_1415995.html
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You will get no argument from me when it comes to charter schools, Lloyd. To put it simply, my tax dollars are for the public/common good. I am not interested in subsidizing someone’s private view of paradise, whether it be secular or religious, and I am certainly not interested in their schemes to line their own pockets.
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:o)
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The article captures most of what needs to be said. I believe that the backers of Bridge are properly called neb-colonialists.
Bridge says it is offering “world class education.” If so, then the next step is to scale this whole packaged program up, install it across the USA in order to make us globally competitive.
I say that because the same folks who are shoveling the scripts to Africa and India are also big venture capitalists trying to shove tech-scripted lessons into our schools, along with data dashboard for just-in-time management of teachers. And part of the pitch is what a wonderful cost saver all of this can be. Teachers need not be high school or college grads, or have any training beyond three weeks. Brick and mortar schools? Not really needed, or if so, any abandoned big box store will do.
I am not certain readers of this blog are aware of the official mission of the US Department of Education: “Our mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. ”
That narrow mission, expressed as if “making money is everything,” dates to September 2007, just as the economic crash was beginning and Congress passed PUBLIC LAW 110–69 the ‘‘America COMPETES Act.’’ The mission statement has not changed since then.
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