The Corporatization of Public Education

Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s pledge to put more big-city mayors in charge of their school districts would exclude democratic forms of school governance and let big businesses decide the fate of public schools.

Home School Versus Public or Private Education: Which is Better?

Parents usually ask themselves if home schooling actually works, or if public schools are such a problem, maybe working to afford private schools may be a better option for their children’s education. Parents are reasonably cautious when considering something as important as their progeny’s learning environment.

Artificial Food Additives Affect Children’s Behavior

Years of research finally supports what many parents already knew: Junk foods – loaded with artificial food dyes and preservatives – cause behavioral problems in children.

Privatization Numbers Up Again

The number of public school districts that contract with private firms to provide at least one major support service increased by a rate of nearly 5 percent in the past year, according to a survey conducted by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The Center’s sixth survey showed that 42 percent of the 550 conventional public school districts surveyed contract for food, custodial or transportation services, or a combination.

California Education Cuts

A million dollars here, a million dollars there, pretty soon it adds up to real money. We know that California faces a serious budget crisis and that K-12 and higher education will face severe budget cuts. We are shocked by the governor’s proposals to cut $31.6 million from the CSU as of Oct 20, and the cut last year of 3.1 billion from K-12 education for 2008/2009.

Education: Test From a Curriculum, Not a List of Standards

What will President-elect Obama do about No Child Left Behind (NCLB)?

It has become difficult to keep track of all the things that have gone wrong with the law. States are gaming the system by lowering standards. The predicted response to “failing schools” has not come about: few students leave them, and few take advantage of tutoring services, which are, by most reports, spotty.  At least some schools have responded to the law by cutting time in science, social studies, music, and art, so as to spend more time on reading and math.

NCLB : a Diminished View of School Reform

Dear President-Elect Obama,

As one of the millions of Americans thrilled by your historic victory, I am heartened by your pledge to pay long-overdue attention to improving – and adequately funding – America’s schools.

Your comments on reforming the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have been especially welcome. As you know, the misguided use of “high-stakes” testing under this law has brought numerous unintended consequences. Not least of these is a teaching-to-the-test mentality that has impoverished the educational experience of the children it was intended to help. For poor and minority students, children with special needs, and English language learners (ELLs), the school curriculum now consists largely of mind-numbing drills in the two tested subjects, reading and math. As a result, millions are being deprived of opportunities to learn critical thinking skills, develop talents in music and art, become physically fit, and excel in science and social studies.

Pledge of Allegiance Flap Divides Vermont Town

WOODBURY — No one’s for sure when daily recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance fell by the wayside at Woodbury Elementary School. But efforts to restore them have erupted into a bitter dispute in this tiny town, with school officials blocking the exercise from classrooms amid concerns that it holds nonparticipating children up to scorn. Supporters say the classroom is the place for it, and the disagreement has fueled an increasingly acrimonious debate among the town’s 810 residents.

“No Zero” Middle Schools

Several middle schools in Knox County are experimenting with a new grading policy. Instead of a zero, students will get a 60 for missing or failed work. If the work is completed, the grade can be raised partially. The idea is to make success a possibility that always exists. If a student doesn’t do their work, they will not pass. Sixty is still an F. By raising the lowest grade to a 60, missed and failed work will not quickly make a student’s grade so low that it is impossible to recover. If students do the work, they are capable of passing. The lesson that if you try, you can succeed is something that must be learned before high school.

Confusing Harder With Better

Never underestimate the power of a catchy slogan and a false dichotomy. When a politician pronounces himself a supporter of “law and order” or “a strong defense,” you may protest that it’s not that simple, but even as you start to explain why, you’ve already been dismissed as soft on crime or unwilling to defend Our Way of Life.

People who attend to nuance have long been at a disadvantage in politics, where spin is out of control. Never before, however, has the same been quite so true of the public conversation about education, which is distinguished today by simplistic demands for “accountability” and “raising the bar.” Not only public officials but business groups and many journalists have played a role in reducing the available options to two: Either you’re in favor of higher standards or you are presumably content with lower standards. Choose one.

Do We Ask Too Much of Teachers?

Schools in England are already amongst the most scrutinised and accountable in the world, yet now a whole new burden of responsibilities is being heaped on them.

First, schools were told they have a responsibility to look out for any indications that their pupils are falling into the grip of extremists and fanatics.

Students Rally Against Commercialization Of Education

Victoria, BC - University of Victoria and Camosun College International students concerned with the commercialization of education gathered at the legislature for a rally today. Students for a democratic society say public education is under attack with increasing tuition fees, new standardized testing, public private partnerships and the commercialization of education.

Destroying Public Education in America

Diogenes called education “the foundation of every state.” Education reformer and “father of American education” Horace Mann went even further. He said: “The common school (meaning public ones) is the greatest discovery ever made by man.” He called it the “great equalizer” that was “common” to all, and as Massachusetts Secretary of Education founded the first board of education and teacher training college in the state where the first (1635) public school was established. Throughout the country today, privatization schemes target them and threaten to end a 373 year tradition.

Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow: Using Accountability to “Reform” Public Schools to Death

I just about fell off my desk chair the other day when I came across my own name in an essay by a conservative economist who specializes in educational issues. The reason for my astonishment is that I was described as being “dead set against any fundamental changes in the nation’s schools.” Now having been accused with some regularity of arguing for too damn many fundamental changes in the nation’s schools, I found this new criticism more than a bit puzzling. But then I remembered that, during a TV interview a couple of years ago, another author from a different right-wing think tank had labeled me a “defender of the educational status quo.”

Our Children Tested to Destruction

The damning indictment of England’s primary education system revealed that the country’s children are now the most tested in the world. Primary school pupils have to deal with unprecedented levels of pressure as they face tests more frequently, at a younger age, and in more subjects than children from any other country, according to one of the biggest international education inquiries in decades.

The Destruction of American Education And What We Must Do About It

It might seem that the word “destruction” in the title of this essay is a bit over the top. But it’s the only accurate description of what’s happening in America today. The demonic cabal that now controls the U.S. systematically destroyed American education in general and is now attacking each educational discipline. We can see this in the Bush junta’s denying and misrepresenting the scientific evidence for global warming–leading to their refusal to sign the Kyoto Accord.

Why the U.S. Department of Education’s Recommended Math Programs Don’t Add Up

What constitutes a good K-12 mathematics program? Opinions differ. In October 1999, the U.S. Department of Education released a report designating 10 math programs as “exemplary” or “promising.” The following month, I sent an open letter to Education Secretary Richard W. Riley urging him to withdraw the department’s recommendations. The letter was coauthored by Richard Askey of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, R. James Milgram of Stanford University, and Hung-Hsi Wu of the University of California at Berkeley, along with more than 200 other cosigners.

Mass Psychology and Education

What exactly is the purpose of education? Does the government want to teach young people how to think and reason for themselves or is it a form of mass psychology aimed at propagandising the young? These questions are examined through Bertrand Russell’s 1952 book entitled The Impact of Science on Society*.

Education for World Government

UNESCO Its Purpose and Its Philosophy, Part 3 – “I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology. Mass psychology is, scientifically speaking, not a very advanced study [...] This study is immensely useful to practical men, whether they wish to become rich or to acquire the government. It is, of course, as a science, founded upon individual psychology, but hitherto it has employed rule-of-thumb methods which were based upon a kind of intuitive common sense. Its importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda. Of these the most influential is what is called ‘education’. Religion plays a part, though a diminishing one; the Press, the cinema and the radio play an increasing part.” – Bertrand Russell, 1952 (p40)

Data Driven Destruction of Public Education

One of the corporate wrecking balls brought down recently on America’s public schools is “data driven” education. The charade is a creation of the Business Roundtable and other forces that dream of a privatized school system that serves only their global profit making schemes.