PRIVATIZING K-12 EDUCATION

Charter schools are bad for America. It is privatization of K-12 public education. For a long time I have been debating with my self about the merits and demerits of privatizing education. Instinctually, having education in the hands of business people seems wrong to me. The other side of the debate was that the public, meaning the majority of parents, were neglecting their responsibilities in maintaining good schools—dropping their children off at a baby sitter’s door. After seeing the “takeover” of school boards by small special interest groups, especially religious groups that were teaching biblical law over science and secular law, I felt the responsibility of education should be in the hands of the government at a higher level than the neighborhood, the state and/or the federal government. Perhaps charter schools would tamper down the pervasive radical highs and lows of education. Education, like biology, will not and should not tolerate extremes.

What is happening in Philadelphia and Chicago, as examples, scares me.  The news reports made me realize charter schools are a great danger to the foundation of our nation. The local governments are in the process of closing 54 public school in Chicago and 44 in Philadelphia. Of course, there are many other school districts following the same route. All I am asking people to do is step back and ask what and why this is happening, and is it good for our children?

There is a history to all of this. Let’s back up to 1981 -1989 and look at Ronald Reagan and his Reaganomic policy. If all the money is at the top, it is good because rich people create jobs. The government should be small because it does not make money; it costs money. As so eloquently pointed out by George Lakoff in his thoughtful book, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think (Amazon, 2012), this is seen as the “natural or moral order”. The government as the paternal family model: the father the obedient wife and well disciplined children; this is the backbone of conservatism. In contrast, liberals have an entirely different approach; they include such foreign thoughts—as empathy and fairness, at least to conservatives they are alien thoughts.

Then George W. Bush happened. Conservative funded think tanks, funded by Ayn Rand types, worked for years developing a plan, almost like a conspiracy involving an entire political party. Richard Mellon Scaife, Charles and David Koch, and many others funded a wide net of radical right leaning think tanks. Bush put their plan into action; he spent taxpayers’ dollars like a drunken sailor throwing money at every thing. The unfunded Iraqi War was part of the plan. The scheme was to create a severe debt crisis. A crisis so bad that even Democrats would agree to cut all social welfare programs, stand ideally by as CEO’s break unions, change bankruptcy laws like those used by Romney to make millions, deregulate business, which lead to the housing crisis, and to privatize everything, even the military and now the focus of their attack is the public school system. They wanted to know how they get more tax dollars into their pockets. If you are not familiar with the history of this brand of thinking read Naomi Klein’s book, Shock Doctrine.

They close public schools. If there are not schools, there are no jobs. If there are no jobs there are no unions. What is the perfect solution for jobless teachers? Open private schools, call them charter schools. Corporations, with deep pockets, donate huge sums of money to political campaigns. All of a sudden like magic, taxpayers’ dollars are given to charter schools, which are private schools. Forget about voucher programs, which we all recognized are bad. Where will Charter Schools find teachers? Didn’t I just say that public schools are being closed right and left putting teachers on the streets? Everyone knows that out of work teachers love to teach, that is what colleges trained them to do, and that is what they want to do “even at starvation wages”.

Look at the composition of the student body of the closed schools—one of the news reports put it at 88% black. When a public school opens it doors, everyone can attend. In the words of Rand Paul, if a person owns a lunch counter he should have the right to decide who his customers are. Charter schools, like lunch counters, are private business.  However, in this case, charter schools thrive on minority students from family that can least afford the increase in cost.  

All the money at the top, a created financial crisis, a shift of the tax burden away from businesses and to the middle class and the poor, closure of public schools with high paid teachers, because they cost too much money, and shift the students to charter schools with the same teachers at much lower pay. The only thing wrong with this scenario is that charter schools cost more than public schools cost and the increased costs are going into the pockets of corporations and not to the pockets of teacher. Reagan is dead but he fired those teachers just as he fired the air traffic controls and put millions of people in danger, this time children—for what in his mind was the most important reason of all; corporate greed.

I am a member of a Google discussion circle, Education Revolution. It doesn’t surprise me that the topics of discussion are how to improve teaching methods, innovative ways of introducing new technologies into the class room and evaluation of teaching methods but not one reference to making big money in the class room. Is it shocking that charter schools are not the number one topic on that site. Dedicated teachers like +Kim Fleming and +Pauline Bresse have other important things to do but those of us who are retired and are interested in politics should play our part as well.

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