Author Topic: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools  (Read 1667 times)

EXPOSEPONCESENT

  • 'G'
  • **
  • Posts: 150
  • Karma: 5
They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« on: March 11, 2008, 11:31:19 AM »
Here's sumthin from www.globalresearch.ca its basically talking about a commission funded by Bill Gates to eliminate the public school system in America for privatised schools were failing students would be kicked out of the system a lot earlier, I dunno, its deep, read this shit people, I dunno, harsh prison sentences, AIDS, gentrification thats goin on in the hoods in America, basically no welfare system, police brutalty, mininum wage you can't pay your rent wit, its fucked up in America in the inner city's, now the social elite are pushing for wiping out public schools aswell, instead of putting money into them trying to fix there problems, I mean just look at the amount of money they are putting into the Iraq Oil War, couldn't they put that money to better use, I dunno, its like there trying to wipe out a whole generation of people, they just want us to die off, fuck em, fuck the system

Exterminating Public Schools in America

by Steven Miller and Jack Gerson

Global Research, March 10, 2008
Educator Roundtable

Email this article to a friend
Print this article

The "Tough Choices or Tough Times" report of the National Commission on Skills in the Workplace, funded in large part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and signed by a bipartisan collection of prominent politicians, businesspeople, and urban school superintendents, called for a series of measures including:

(a) replacing public schools with what the report called "contract schools", which would be charter schools writ large;

(b) eliminating nearly all the powers of local school boards - their role would be to write and sign the authorizing agreements for the "contract schools;

(c) eliminating teacher pensions and slashing health benefits; and

(d) forcing all 10th graders to take a high school exit examination based on 12th grade skills, and terminating the education of those who failed (i.e., throwing millions of students out into the streets as they turn 16).

These measures, taken together, would effectively cripple public control of public education. They would dangerously weaken the power of teacher unions, thus facilitating still further attacks on the public sector. They would leave education policy in the hands of a network of entrepreneurial think tanks, corporate entrepreneurs, and armies of lobbyists whose priorities are profiting from the already huge education market while cutting back on public funding for schools and students.

Indeed, their measures would mean privatization of education, effectively terminating the right to a public education, as we have known it. Many of the most powerful forces in the country want the US, the first country to guarantee public education, to be the first country to end it.

For the last fifty years, public education was one of only two public mandates guaranteed by the government that was accessible to every person, regardless of income. Social Security is the other. Now both systems are threatened with privatization schemes. The government today openly defines its mission as protecting the rights of corporations above everything. Thus public education is a rare public space that is under attack.

The same scenario is being implemented with most of the services that governments used to provide for free or at little cost: electricity, national parks, health care and water. In every case, the methodology is the same: underfund public services, create an uproar and declare a crisis, claim that privatization can do the job better, deregulate or break public control, divert public money to corporations and then raise prices.

In the past year, it's become evident that the corporate surge against public schools is only part of a much broader assault against the public sector, against unions, and indeed against the public's rights and public control of public institutions.

This has been evident for some time now in New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina's devastation is used as an excuse for permanently privatizing the infrastructure of a major American city: razing public housing and turning land over to developers; replacing the city's public school system with a combination of charter schools and state-run schools; letting the notorious Blackwater private army loose on the civilian population; and, in the end, forcing tens of thousands of families out of the city permanently. The citizens of New Orleans have had their civil rights forcibly expropriated.

Just as the shock of the hurricane was the excuse for the shock therapy applied to New Orleans, so the economic downturn triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis is now the excuse for a national assault on the public sector and the public's rights. . .

In public education, the corporate surge has grown both qualitatively and quantitatively. Where two years ago the corporate education change agents were mainly operating in a relatively small number of large urban areas, they have now surfaced everywhere. The corporatization of public education is the leading edge of privatization. This has the effect of silencing the public voice on every aspect of the situation.

Across the US, public schools are not yet privatized, though private services are increasingly benefiting from this market. However, increasing corporate control of programs - a different mix in every locale - is having a chilling influence on the very things that people (though not corporations) want from teachers: the ability to relate to and teach each child, a nurturing approach that nudges every child to move ahead, human assessments that put people before performance on standardized tests.

Perhaps the single most dramatic development of the corporate approach was the launching of the $60 million Strong American Schools - Ed in '08 initiative, funded by billionaires Bill Gates and Eli Broad. This is a naked effort to purchase the nation's education policy, no matter who is elected President, by buying their way into every electoral forum.

Ed in '08 has a three-point program: merit pay (basing teachers' compensation on students' scores on high stakes test); national education standards (enforcing conformity and rote learning); and longer school day and school year (still more time for rote learning, less time for kids to be kids. . . )

Where two years ago charter schools were still viewed as experiments affecting a relatively small number of students, in 2007 the corporate privatizers - led by Broad and Gates - grossly expanded their funding to the point where they now loom as a major presence.

In March, the Gates Foundation announced a $100 million donation to KIPP charter schools, which would enable them to expand their Houston operation to 42 schools (from eight) - effectively, KIPP will be a full-fledged alternative school system in Houston. Also in the past year, Eli Broad and Gates have given in the neighborhood of $50 million to KIPP and Green Dot charter schools in Los Angeles, with the aim of doubling the percentage of LA students enrolled in charter schools. Oakland, another Broad/Gates targets, now has more than 30 charter schools out of 92. And, as we shall see below, the same trend holds across the country.

NCLB in 2008 is still a major issue. It continues to have a corrosive effect on public schools. It is designed an unfunded mandate, which means that schools must meet ever rigid standards every year, though no more money is appropriated to support this effort. This means that schools must take ever-more money out of the class room to meet federal requirements when schools with low test scores are in "Program Improvement". Once schools are in PI for 5 years they can be forced into privatization.

NCLB is a driving force that decimates the "publicness" in public schools. In California, more than 2000 schools are now in "Program-Improvement". This means that they have to meet certain specific, and mostly impossible standards, or they must divert increasingly greater amounts of money out of the classroom and into private programs.

For example, schools in 3rd year PI must take money out of programs that helped schools with a high proportion of low achieving schools and make it available to private tutors. . .

Privatizing public schools inevitably leads to a massive increase in social inequality. Private corporations have never been required to recognize civil rights, because, by definition, these are public rights. If the corporate privatizers succeed in taking over our schools, there will be neither quality education nor civil rights.

The system of public education in the United States is deeply flawed. While suburban schools are among the best in the world, public education in cities has been deliberately underfunded and is in shambles. The solution is not to fight backwards to maintain the old system. Rather it is to fight forward to a new system that will truly guarantee quality education as a civil right for everyone.

Central to this is to challenge the idea that everything in human society should be run by corporations, that only corporations and their political hacks have the right or the power to discuss what public policy should be. . .

The real direction is to increase the role and power of the public in every way, not eliminate it. . .

Global Research Articles by Steven Miller

Global Research Articles by Jack Gerson

QuietTruth

  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 9083
  • Thanked: 3 times
  • Karma: 1181
  • Shoot 'em up bang bang, nigga die slow
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2008, 04:17:19 PM »
Yeahhhh, why not?

They wanna get rid of Social Studies Class. So I mean why NOT take out our schools, that's a FUCKIN' BRILLANT idea. Ya know, let's NOT find better teachers though. Nahhh. Let's rely on TECHNOLOGY. Ha ha, LMAO.

I fear the future and my life, I just hope I'm gone before that. This generation is not SMART. I swear to God, I don't know what is happening to this world.
 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

  • Shot Caller
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13822
  • Thanked: 450 times
  • Karma: -1625
  • Permanent Resident Flat Erth 1996 Pre-Sept. 13th
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2008, 04:13:12 PM »
That would be great if they got rid of public schools (government schools)!

I didn't have time to read the whole article, but as a Libertarian I know that anything ran by the government is not as efficient as something ran by the free market.  The government school system is a joke.  They standardize everything, so that everybody has to learn the same thing.

If we got rid of public schools, then the free market would offer private institutions in it's place, where one could learn what they want to learn, in half the time, and at half the cost.
My First Officially Schedule Rap Battle on Stage as an undercard to the undercard match



(btw, Earth 🌎 is not a spinning water ball)
 

Primo

  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 2615
  • Karma: 46
  • I just want to fit in!
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2008, 06:20:42 PM »
i have to agree with infinite on this one.
 

herpes

  • Guest
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2008, 07:26:15 PM »
That would be great if they got rid of public schools (government schools)!

I didn't have time to read the whole article, but as a Libertarian I know that anything ran by the government is not as efficient as something ran by the free market.  The government school system is a joke.  They standardize everything, so that everybody has to learn the same thing.

If we got rid of public schools, then the free market would offer private institutions in it's place, where one could learn what they want to learn, in half the time, and at half the cost.

I hear this from Libertarians all the time, could you go more in dept or any libertarian go more in dept for me on how this would work.  I'm not trying to be a dick or anything I really am curious lol.
 

Trauma-san

Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2008, 08:43:59 PM »
Basically the government is so large that anything they run is totally overrun by corruption and a lack of efficency.  Since there's so many schools, all ran by the government it's impossible for them to keep track of how things are actually going on a local level, so they have to set up systems designed to provide success... but systems that large can't possibly work on a local level, so you end up with superintendants who lose their job if key measures aren't met... so they lean on the principals to make sure these certain elements are met, and they lean on the teachers to make sure these certain elements are met... and what you have at the end of the day is a bunch of people running around trying to make sure a certain statistic looks good or else they all lose their jobs.

In a free market, though, each school would be ran on it's own, by it's own board of directors, or a single owner, or whatever.  They'd be in the school everyday, they'd see what's working, what isn't working, they'd be in competition with other schools to do a better job of teaching and they'd also have to have better prices if they expected to get attendance up, etc.  They'd be in competition with other schools for the best teachers as well, so they'd have to offer the maximum possible pay to the teachers.  Each school could have it's own rules and regulations, and each school could specialize in different areas of education. 

It's really a pretty simple philsophy that is pretty much unassailable, anything the government does the free market can do much better.  There's not much of an argument against it.  Since I know you're a democrat, though, I know you're basically just looking for a handout and won't agree with anything a libertarian or republican thinks since much of it deals in personal responsibility and paying your own way. 
 

Javier

  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 8585
  • Karma: 284
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2008, 08:54:58 PM »
Since I know you're a democrat, though, I know you're basically just looking for a handout and won't agree with anything a libertarian or republican thinks since much of it deals in personal responsibility and paying your own way. 

What a judgmental piece of shit.
 

M Dogg™

  • Greatest of All Time
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 12116
  • Thanked: 19 times
  • Karma: 330
  • Feel the Power of the Darkside
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2008, 09:40:00 PM »
You want free market education, go to Mexico. Most their wealthy elite kids graduate, come to the US for education, go back and become very successful. Their priviate school are some of the world's best. Everyone else, well, you can hire them at your local Home Depot to mow your lawn. I want a system were the poor has access to quality education from a young age. At one time, California was the envy of the world. Japanese would go to classrooms and study their education system. After tax cut after tax cut and the rise of highly regarded private schooling in rich neighborhoods, education has fallen so hard in California, Los Angeles has more drop outs than graduates, some schools have day care for students babies and Californians envy Texas of all places for better education. But from 1967-1999 Ronald Reagan, George Deukmejian, and Pete Wilson ran the state with Jerry Brown in the middle. Deukmejian, who was Reagan's right hand man in Cali, did the worst damage to our public school system in the 80's, and Wilson finished the job in the 90's.
 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

  • Shot Caller
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13822
  • Thanked: 450 times
  • Karma: -1625
  • Permanent Resident Flat Erth 1996 Pre-Sept. 13th
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2008, 10:20:46 PM »
That would be great if they got rid of public schools (government schools)!

I didn't have time to read the whole article, but as a Libertarian I know that anything ran by the government is not as efficient as something ran by the free market.  The government school system is a joke.  They standardize everything, so that everybody has to learn the same thing.

If we got rid of public schools, then the free market would offer private institutions in it's place, where one could learn what they want to learn, in half the time, and at half the cost.

I hear this from Libertarians all the time, could you go more in dept or any libertarian go more in dept for me on how this would work.  I'm not trying to be a dick or anything I really am curious lol.

Look at it this way...

Let's say you have a private school, and it is not being ran in an efficient manner, it's prices are too expensive, and the kids aren't learning anything.  Well, what naturally happens in free market economics (provided there is no government interference), is that the parents will remove their kids from that school and instead spend their money at a competing school.  Therefore the school will lose it's money and support and have to close it's business.  You see, in the free market, you either produce results, or you have to close your business.

Now, compare that to a public institution like public schools.  If a public school is inefficient, too costly to the taxpayers, and the kids aren't learning anything... then guess what, some politician will run for re-election claiming they are the "pro-education" candidate.  What that means, is that they will call for more money from the taxpayers to re-fund this failing school, and they will want more government oversight, which means more paper work, more rules and regulations, more bureaucracy, more redtape... so that... like Trauma said, the principals and teachers will spend more time trying to meet government mandates, rather than teaching the students in the best way possible.

Also, in public schools, you learn what the government (people like George Bush and Newt Gingrich) want you to learn; while in private institutions, each individual parent and student gets to decide for themselves what education is going to be most important to them, their child's future, and prospective employers.   
« Last Edit: March 12, 2008, 10:23:37 PM by Abd. Inf. presents... RIP Lucky Dube »
My First Officially Schedule Rap Battle on Stage as an undercard to the undercard match



(btw, Earth 🌎 is not a spinning water ball)
 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

  • Shot Caller
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13822
  • Thanked: 450 times
  • Karma: -1625
  • Permanent Resident Flat Erth 1996 Pre-Sept. 13th
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2008, 10:25:00 PM »
You want free market education, go to Mexico. Most their wealthy elite kids graduate, come to the US for education, go back and become very successful. Their priviate school are some of the world's best. Everyone else, well, you can hire them at your local Home Depot to mow your lawn. I want a system were the poor has access to quality education from a young age. At one time, California was the envy of the world. Japanese would go to classrooms and study their education system. After tax cut after tax cut and the rise of highly regarded private schooling in rich neighborhoods, education has fallen so hard in California, Los Angeles has more drop outs than graduates, some schools have day care for students babies and Californians envy Texas of all places for better education. But from 1967-1999 Ronald Reagan, George Deukmejian, and Pete Wilson ran the state with Jerry Brown in the middle. Deukmejian, who was Reagan's right hand man in Cali, did the worst damage to our public school system in the 80's, and Wilson finished the job in the 90's.

Actually, schools in America, less than 100 years ago were ran privately.  And ever since the government has gotten more and more involved the schools have continued to become more dangerous and students are graduating with lower scores.
My First Officially Schedule Rap Battle on Stage as an undercard to the undercard match



(btw, Earth 🌎 is not a spinning water ball)
 

M Dogg™

  • Greatest of All Time
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 12116
  • Thanked: 19 times
  • Karma: 330
  • Feel the Power of the Darkside
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2008, 10:32:38 PM »

I disagree, because in the 80's, Ronald Reagan ran and won on getting rid of the Dept. of Ed. and basically taking money out of our failing system, and Deukmejian took millions out. Also, 100 years ago, California was not 36million, so it was easier to have priviate schooling. The proplem with Libertarian thought is it's for smaller rural countries and places that people are involved with each other. In a place like California, there is so much diversity, and so much distrust and so many problems that these problems wouldn't work itself out. Too many kids will die or have babies before it works it's self out and that we cannot have.
 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

  • Shot Caller
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13822
  • Thanked: 450 times
  • Karma: -1625
  • Permanent Resident Flat Erth 1996 Pre-Sept. 13th
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #11 on: March 12, 2008, 10:55:36 PM »

I disagree, because in the 80's, Ronald Reagan ran and won on getting rid of the Dept. of Ed. and basically taking money out of our failing system, and Deukmejian took millions out.


Just because Reagan ran as a Libertarian in the 80's does not mean that he lived up to any of his promises once in office.  Government grew more under Reagen than it did under Clinton.  His education cuts were little to none.


Also, 100 years ago, California was not 36million, so it was easier to have priviate schooling. The proplem with Libertarian thought is it's for smaller rural countries and places that people are involved with each other.


That's the whole thing, the constitution states that any duties not granted to the Federal government within the constitution were to be handled by the states.  So the states were supposed to compete against each other.  Then you break everything down to a local, county, level, and so on.  The government isn't supposed to be ruling all the land.



In a place like California, there is so much diversity, and so much distrust and so many problems that these problems wouldn't work itself out. Too many kids will die or have babies before it works it's self out and that we cannot have.



That's the point, you say that there is distrust, well, if you distrust your school then start your own school in a Mexican community or you can have a Latino ran school where everyone trusts each other.  Whatever you want, it's your choice in a Libertarian country, you won't be forced by people like Bush and Gingrinch.
My First Officially Schedule Rap Battle on Stage as an undercard to the undercard match



(btw, Earth 🌎 is not a spinning water ball)
 

M Dogg™

  • Greatest of All Time
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 12116
  • Thanked: 19 times
  • Karma: 330
  • Feel the Power of the Darkside
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #12 on: March 12, 2008, 10:58:55 PM »

I disagree, because in the 80's, Ronald Reagan ran and won on getting rid of the Dept. of Ed. and basically taking money out of our failing system, and Deukmejian took millions out.


Just because Reagan ran as a Libertarian in the 80's does not mean that he lived up to any of his promises once in office.  Government grew more under Reagen than it did under Clinton.  His education cuts were little to none.


Also, 100 years ago, California was not 36million, so it was easier to have priviate schooling. The proplem with Libertarian thought is it's for smaller rural countries and places that people are involved with each other.


That's the whole thing, the constitution states that any duties not granted to the Federal government within the constitution were to be handled by the states.  So the states were supposed to compete against each other.  Then you break everything down to a local, county, level, and so on.  The government isn't supposed to be ruling all the land.



In a place like California, there is so much diversity, and so much distrust and so many problems that these problems wouldn't work itself out. Too many kids will die or have babies before it works it's self out and that we cannot have.



That's the point, you say that there is distrust, well, if you distrust your school then start your own school in a Mexican community or you can have a Latino ran school where everyone trusts each other.  Whatever you want, it's your choice in a Libertarian country, you won't be forced by people like Bush and Gingrinch.

that's the issue, we fought to intergrate schools, and then have a system were people could put themselves into segration. That's not a way to teach kids who will be in the most diverse state in the union.
 

TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96'

  • Shot Caller
  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 13822
  • Thanked: 450 times
  • Karma: -1625
  • Permanent Resident Flat Erth 1996 Pre-Sept. 13th
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2008, 11:08:44 PM »


that's the issue, we fought to intergrate schools, and then have a system were people could put themselves into segration. That's not a way to teach kids who will be in the most diverse state in the union.


Well.. I'm a Malcolm X guy, not a Martin Luther King guy.  While Martin was beggin to have black kids taught in the white man's schools.  Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad were biulding Nation of Islam schools and teaching the children African and Asian history, Arabic, and so on..., the white man didn't like that so he was always giving them trouble and shutting down their schools.

Anyway, what you are advocating is FORCED integration.  Check this MDogg, if you love integration so much, then in a Libertarian society you can get your Latino homies and get with Martin Luther Kings followers and find a white Liberal school and everyone will be happy.   

See, it's your choice in a Libertarian society.  Why do you want to force others to want the same things you want?  Why should Elijah Muhammad want integration just because you do?   Why can't you both have what you want? 
My First Officially Schedule Rap Battle on Stage as an undercard to the undercard match



(btw, Earth 🌎 is not a spinning water ball)
 

Machiavelli

  • Muthafuckin' Don!
  • *****
  • Posts: 3695
  • Karma: 134
Re: They Want To Get Rid Of US Public Schools
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2008, 11:41:41 PM »
libertarianism = freedom