With Obama's pick for Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, it looks like we could see a repackaging of Bush's "No Child Left Behind." Bush designed NCLB to slowly destroy public education with the intention of privatizing failing schools, thereby increasing the disparity between the haves and have nots. If Duncan implements Chicago's ideological playbook for public schools nationwide, we will see NCLB on steroids. Privatizing failing schools, means the expendable "have nots" can choose between joblessness, crime, privatized prison or cannon fodder for a military, also moving in the direction of privatization.
When Bush declared he wanted to create an "ownership society," (a slogan he eventually dropped) he meant that "we" the many, would be owned by the corporate "few." The march toward privatization of public schools, the military, prisons, roads, water, energy, airwaves, the NET, does not bode well for the future of our county. The commons, the infrastructure that serves the common good should never be privatized. raunchydog Tomgram: Andy Kroll, Will Public Education Be Militarized? As he packs up for Washington, Arne Duncan leaves behind a Windy City legacy that's hardly cause for optimism, emphasizing as it does a business-minded, market-driven model for education. If he is a "reformer," his style of management is distinctly top-down, corporate, and privatizing. It views teachers as expendable, unions as unnecessary, and students as customers. Disturbing as well is the prominence of Duncan's belief in offering a key role in public education to the military. Chicago's school system is currently the most militarized in the country. read more... http://tinyurl.com/9ajve5 "...Even if Duncan's policies do continue to boost test scores in coming years, the question must be asked: At whose expense? In a competition-driven educational system, some schools will, of course, succeed, receiving more funding and so hiring the most talented teachers. At the same time, schools that aren't "performing" will be put on probation, stripped of their autonomy, and possibly closed, only to be reopened as privately-run outfits -- or even handed over to the military. The highest achieving students (that is, the best test-takers) will have access to the most up-to-date facilities, advanced equipment, and academic support programs; struggling students will likely be left behind, separate and unequal, stuck in decrepit classrooms and underfunded schools. Public education is not meant to be a win-lose, us-versus-them system, nor is it meant to be a recruitment system for the military -- and yet this, it seems, is at the heart of Duncan's legacy in Chicago, and so a reasonable indication of the kind of "reform" he's likely to bring to the country as education secretary."
