This is an article based on an interview of me conducted by Carolyn Bassetti of the Canadian publication Alberta Views.
I have recently been emailing with public education advocates in Canada who are alarmed by their government’s drift towards consumerism in education. They are as concerned as we are about the constant attacks on public education.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yikes! I thought Canadians were the sane ones!
Thank you, Diane, for being the world’s foremost advocate for public schools!
Such a tragic story. But note where Alberta is on the map. It’s the Idaho/Montana/Dakotas/Wyoming of the Canada. Lots of cultural and political affinities.
Consumerism is the very antithesis of individualism,
just like capitalism is the antithesis of true libertarianism.
They both end in plantation nations where everything and everyone is for sale.
In the 90’s Edmunton, Alberta was the home of school-based budgeting, I was the union guy on a team that visited Edmunton, many small public schools, open zoning, bilingual, dual language, schools, teachers and principals in the same union, highly collaborative schools, and schools sharply segregated by language, race and ethnicity … the “minorities,” were SE Asians (Vietnam, etc. …over the years Alberta has moved further and further to the right, an economy heavily dependent on oil …. struggling …. and, I suspect, seeking “victims,” ….. the rise of racist dominated nationalism is more thn disturbing..
“budgeting” for segregation
Privatization is a slippery slope with public schools bearing the burden for everyone’s free market fantasy. The needs of many take a backseat to the wants of a few. Charters spawn vouchers, and soon public schools become little more than a host for everyone’s choice. Choice creates winners and losers, and politicians rig the rules so that the inclusive public schools are always losers. Canada is learning this same mistake that America has made. In a world of increased polarization we need schools that cross the social-economic and color divide, and public schools fill that role better than any so-called choice.
MAGA – Make Amok Great Again
A muck works too