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posted by n1 on Sunday June 18 2017, @11:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the telling-half-the-story dept.

Diane Ravitch, a top public education advocate, reports via AlterNet:

This month, the Public Broadcasting System is broadcasting a "documentary" that tells a one-sided story, the story that [Trump's Secretary of Education] Betsy DeVos herself would tell, based on the work of free-market advocate Andrew Coulson. Author of "Market Education", Coulson narrates "School, Inc.", a three-hour program, which airs this month nationwide in three weekly broadcasts on PBS.

Uninformed viewers who see this slickly produced program will learn about the glories of unregulated schooling, for-profit schools, teachers selling their lessons to students on the Internet. They will learn about the "success" of the free market in schooling in Chile, Sweden, and New Orleans. They will hear about the miraculous charter schools across America, and how public school officials selfishly refuse to encourage the transfer of public funds to private institutions. They will see a glowing portrait of South Korea, where students compete to get the highest possible scores on a college entry test that will define the rest of their lives and where families gladly pay for after-school tutoring programs and online lessons to boost test scores. They will hear that the free market is more innovative than public schools.

What they will not see or hear is the other side of the story. They will not hear scholars discuss the high levels of social segregation in Chile, nor will they learn that the students protesting the free-market schools in the streets are not all "Communists", as Coulson suggests. They will not hear from scholars who blame Sweden's choice system for the collapse of its international test scores. They will not see any reference to Finland, which far outperforms any other European nation on international tests yet has neither vouchers nor charter schools. They may not notice the absence of any students in wheelchairs or any other evidence of students with disabilities in the highly regarded KIPP charter schools. They will not learn that the acclaimed American Indian Model Charter Schools in Oakland does not enroll any American Indians, but has a student body that is 60 percent Asian American in a city where that group is 12.8 percent of the student population. Nor will they see any evidence of greater innovation in voucher schools or charter schools than in properly funded public schools.

[...] This program is paid propaganda. It does not search for the truth. It does not present opposing points of view. It is an advertisement for the demolition of public education and for an unregulated free market in education. PBS might have aired a program that debates these issues, but "School Inc." does not.

It is puzzling that PBS would accept millions of dollars for this lavish and one-sided production from a group of foundations with a singular devotion to the privatization of public services. The decision to air this series is even stranger when you stop to consider that these kinds of anti-government political foundations are likely to advocate for the elimination of public funding for PBS. After all, in a free market of television, where there are so many choices available, why should the federal government pay for a television channel?


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Whoever on Monday June 19 2017, @12:19AM (13 children)

    by Whoever (4524) on Monday June 19 2017, @12:19AM (#527654) Journal

    The problem is that people like DeVos are not interested in replacing public schools with schools that would:
    1. Provide a real educations (they want to replace science with religion).
    2. Provide real education for all (those charter schools will find a way to discriminate).

    Charter schools do not provide a universal answer:
    http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/06/08/charter-schools-accused-of-misuse-of-public-funds-in-livermore-audit/ [eastbaytimes.com]
    The schools could not pay their bills (they were already bailed out once a year ago) and now stand accused of misusing $67M of public money.

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday June 19 2017, @02:03AM (11 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 19 2017, @02:03AM (#527682) Journal

    The problem is that people like DeVos are not interested in replacing public schools with schools that would:

    The people actually going to those schools (and their parents) would be the ones interested. Sure, keep in mind the conflicts of interest, but also keep in mind that there would be a lot of people exercising these choices, and they have more at stake than a few bucks.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Whoever on Monday June 19 2017, @03:43AM (10 children)

      by Whoever (4524) on Monday June 19 2017, @03:43AM (#527711) Journal

      When DeVos and her cohorts have completely destroyed the public schools, parents (other than wealthy parents) won't have a choice.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Sulla on Monday June 19 2017, @04:02AM (2 children)

        by Sulla (5173) on Monday June 19 2017, @04:02AM (#527715) Journal

        New Orleans is doing significantly better education wise after they were rebuilt following Katrina following a similar model.

        PBS propaganda = good when dems do it
        PBS prop = bad when reps do it

        Its always bad, stop only noticing because your guy isnt in power.

        --
        Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:54AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:54AM (#527734)

          this is pure BS, lot of troubles right now on New Orleans and charter schools are one of them

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 19 2017, @12:45PM (6 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 19 2017, @12:45PM (#527873) Journal

        When DeVos and her cohorts have completely destroyed the public schools, parents (other than wealthy parents) won't have a choice.

        The thing is there are a lot of public schools that need destroying because they've betrayed their students and communities. So sorry, I don't see that as a downside. And I don't buy in the least that there will be a single choice available to parents as a result.

        • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Monday June 19 2017, @02:46PM (5 children)

          by Whoever (4524) on Monday June 19 2017, @02:46PM (#527926) Journal

          The bottom line is that the evidence shows that charter schools do not achieve better results, when other factors are taken into account: such as the ability to exclude disruptive and poor-performing students.

          Even if the public schools are failing, replacing them with charter schools won't solve the problem.

          Do you want your tax dollars to be used to teach kids that evolution is a myth and the world is only 6000 years old? I don't.

          • (Score: 2) by Sulla on Monday June 19 2017, @03:13PM (3 children)

            by Sulla (5173) on Monday June 19 2017, @03:13PM (#527953) Journal

            I don't honestly see the difference between that and our public schools teaching them that there are 5n genders. Seems no matter where they go they will be educated in fairy tales.

            "When other factors are taken into account"
            I would like to see some citations please. Although I imagine this is one of those things where they can always find another factor as long as it protects the teachers union.

            --
            Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
            • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @03:25PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @03:25PM (#527957)

              The "5n" genders are based on actual legitimate science. You would know that if you weren't so mentally tied up in your own fairy tales. I'd post citations but your kind always just makes up some reason to brush aside reality in favor of your personal biases.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @06:10PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @06:10PM (#528066)

                "based on" "science"

                Is that like Hollywood basing movies on books?

                And are you talking about genders, or sexes? Not the same thing. Mind you, there's been consistent (apparently deliberate) confusion of the concepts on the part of the LGBTQA mafia, so I can't really blame people for getting confused.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:03PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:03PM (#527968)

              5n? I thought it was more n log n.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 23 2017, @01:08AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 23 2017, @01:08AM (#529740) Journal

            Even if the public schools are failing, replacing them with charter schools won't solve the problem.

            I note here it will, if your child isn't the disruptive and poor-performing student. I don't see public schools which traditionally can't refuse students that disrupt school for other students, as having the advantage here.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:58PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:58PM (#528053)

    Right because in your reality there is no way to discriminate in public schools, like say by moving to a different school district where house prices are out of reach for certain demographics.

    And in your reality, where such discrimination does not exist, there is no move to punish the districts that have more affluent demographics for being successful, say with like with some sort of bullshit scheme called Abbot District: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_district [wikipedia.org]

    Only charter schools will create this warped reality, in which we are not living now!

    I love your article, $67 million is NOTHING as far as the expenditures of public educations are concerned. Lack of accountability is beyond the pail right now. Charter schools will make the problem more managable, not less, by ensuring there are repercussions to this nonsense. You can get your charter revoked: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article131843889.html [thestate.com] and that is a BEAUTIFUL thing.