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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?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @03:37AM
I'm sure she's against bad public school etc. And will replace it with something good, for rich people and even worse for the rest.
The Swedish success for alternative schools which is paid for by the government for every citizen so income differences is not a big factor. Is because these non-public schools can consistently reject Arabs, Africans and generally violent individuals.
The collapse is because:
* There is very poor incentives to do the PISA test. Students will study for grades and knowledge, period.
* A lot of immigrants that simple has a magnitude worse capability for learning (inbreeding and social inheritance).
* Immigrants and others that cause a lot of disturbance in the class rooms and outside. Because teachers may not offend anyone.
* Because of the poor work environment, bureaucracy and low pay. Good teachers leave and few elect to study for a teachers exam.
* The break between the model of Finnish and Swedish schools happened when the minister of schools Göran Persson got the idea to transfer their management from the state to the local counties in 1989. Which are local inbreeds that well ain't the brightest. And Göran got the idea to do this switch because the former boss for the central bank Bengt Dennis together with the minister for finance Kjell-Olof Feldt decided in 1985 it was a vise idea to let banks loan as much as the liked. Which caused a financial crisis in 1990-1994. A lot of similarities with the global crisis of 2008.
One school in Lund [wikipedia.org] allowed two immigrants that had raped the same native 14 year old girl vaginally and orally in 30 May 2016, and threatened her with beatings, to stay in the same school as their victim until a public outrage hit the fan in March 2017. The media stayed silent on the matter to not offend immigrants. The elder offender Ajuub got away with 100 hours of community service and the other offender got no punishment due to being underage at the time. Just to give an example on what some students experience.
It is not puzzling because PBS is in essence the American version of state media. And state media.. does what the state wants it to do. It is so in America, and it so in Sweden. Though very few officials will admit this.
So what can be learned?
* Let people with domain knowledge and that is driven by result and reasoning. Not agendas to run the workplace.
* Keep death by MBAs and bureaucracy far away and let skilled professionals within the domain, make the decisions.
* Let schools compete on results not ability to chase funding.
* Don't let large numbers of people with violent tendencies and learning incapability into your country and especially not schools.
* Remove laws punishing teachers that tries to protect students and themselves from violent and disruptive people.
* Make sure that teachers that are unsuitable for the job are removed, same goes for the rector.
And I'm a anonymous coward because I have other things to do than handling people that can't deal with realities.