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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) by Arik on Monday June 19 2017, @12:16AM (2 children)
Federal funding is only a tiny sliver at this point - these stations are mostly supported by viewer donations already. But more to the point, why should *anyone* pay for a local television channel? In these days of eternal september, why bother with OTA broadcast at all? Show creation is funded in other ways, and there's no longer a need for middlemen to rebroadcast them locally when the audience has the internet.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday June 19 2017, @03:05AM (1 child)
Except maybe they don't have the internet. Recent FCC report on broadband availability in the U.S. [fcc.gov] One can argue that the FCC sets benchmarks a little high, but even for less broadband, there's still millions of people without access. And that's just availability -- people also need to be able to afford to pay for it. (Roughly 1/3 of Americans have only one option for broadband service because of local monopolies, etc. And without competition, fees are generally higher.)
Granted, there are other options now -- mobile data is starting to be a realistic option for many folks lacking other internet options, but streaming TV is still generally pricey unless you're already paying for a very expensive plan.
I'm not saying these numbers are necessarily large enough to justify OTA broadcasts indefinitely, but there is still at least an access argument that could be made.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:30AM
...though they did pay $200B to get bandwidth capable of fullscreen video.
http://archive.li/6rvpq#selection-765.4-765.16 [archive.li]
(The original is 404. Imaginary Property sucks.)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Monday June 19 2017, @12:25AM (6 children)
It's an opinion piece.
I would've hoped for an article that points out the upcoming show, perhaps provides a little bit of background information, then let us discuss amongst ourselves. To me, this article is simply telling me what I should think.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @12:49AM (5 children)
Diane Ravitch is an experienced educator and was an appointee of G.H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
She also briefly advised the Dubya campaign.
She was the architect of the No Child Left Behind program.
She became its strongest critic when she saw that it didn't work.
Administrations are still, however, giving money to Pearson and other standardized testing/standardized syllabus outfits (privatizing education).
She is telling you that that stuff doesn't work and is a waste of your money and that the TeeVee program is propaganda.
If you want corporate propaganda pushing something that extracts wealth while doing an inferior job, For-Profit Media is full of that.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @02:44PM (4 children)
In other words:
Establishment educator with track record of bipartisan, federally-based institutionalism in education declares that outsider plan for reviewing her legacy is bad.
Wow. Who could have imagined that establishment figures might object to their favourite systems being torn up by the appointees of an administration elected by the angry and disenfranchised? I'm ... I'm in shock. I need some beanbags and Sesame Street.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @10:25PM (3 children)
The numbers are in.
The Reactionaries'/Neoliberals' "alternatives" are -less- effective.
Again: The "alternatives" are about busting unions and extracting wealth.
Big surprise. (NOT).
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @12:45AM (2 children)
Nope, so far the best outcomes belong to drill-'em-hard private schools, and homeschoolers.
Those are not in Ravitch's game plan. They weren't in Obama's game plan. They showed no sign of being in Bernie's game plan, and for that matter not in the ICFI's game plan either. They're so far only in the game plans of parents willing to dedicate a hell of a lot of time and/or money to the education of their kids, and often in the teeth (in the case of home schoolers) of substantial institutional resistance. Betsy, for all the criticisms, does not appear to care about shutting either of those options down.
Score so far:
the pro-federals and collectivists: 0
Betsy de Vos: 1
As for "busting unions and extracting wealth" I propose we split the difference, and start busting the unions that are extracting the wealth. Particularly the politically dominant, legislatively untouchable, unopposed unions that show less interest in the future of the country and its population than in entrenching their own power, funding themselves with mandatory contributions ultimately drawn from tax monies.
But you like those kinds of unions, don't you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @02:46AM (1 child)
Apples to oranges.
the pro-federals and collectivists: 0
Betsy de Vos: 1
DeVos hasn't accomplished shit yet.
All she has done so far is make speeches where she was booed soundly.
Now, for a little honesty about your examples:
Excellent teacher:student ratios: 1
Poorer teacher:student ratios and overabundant, overpaid, underqualified administrators: 0
Hint: It could only be "collectivist" after the top-down structure was eliminated.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @05:33AM
True, Betsy hasn't accomplished shit yet. Good eye there, Sparky. However, she also has not gone to work trying to tear down the few things that are working well - which is putting her solidly over the teachers' unions and their pet poodles.
Trying to explain outcomes solely in terms of ratios is just not meaningful. You can have three teachers watching a disenchanted kid from a broken home with an uncaring parent, and they won't achieve much if anything unless they somehow become surrogate parents (odds are low - nice when it happens). You can have one motivated kid in a class of fifty with engaged, involved parents and that kid will shine. It's frankly something of a crapshoot, and while you improve your odds (a bit) with ratios, you also improve your odds with tight, even strict discipline, and highly motivated teachers.
Net result: Betsy is STILL batting a better average just by not declaring that the best options should be off the table.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @12:29AM (16 children)
The local PBS affiliate in Philadelphia is constantly showing their equivalent of infomercials every week. Most of the educational content is gone, and replaced with cookie cutter speeches in front of a studio audience that tout a health or finance theory. A lot of the crafting or home improvement shows are gone, along with most of the cooking shows.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @01:06AM (1 child)
Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, and Mr. Rogers, all of the 'greats' of my childhood, are all still paywalled 30 years later.
Worse yet at least 2 if not all 3 of those, are further being stonewalled by either the key people (producer, publisher, main actor), or their descendants in regards to providing unabridged copies of it on physical media to the viewing public. Never will I be able to show my children Mr. Rogers from its first airing in the 60s, up to its last airing in the mid '00s. Nor will I be able to show my kids Reading Rainbow during their developmental years,and convincing them of the coolness of books through 80s video storytelling. And Sesame Street: Well I can't forgive them for getting rid of Bert and replacing him with elmo, because two guys living together are gay mm'kay?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @02:19AM
I didn't know about Bert leaving, but maybe you could complain that Ernie and Elmo is bestiality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @01:12AM (13 children)
Do you think the programming quality might be better if Reactionaries and Neoliberals hadn't been cutting the funding for Public Broadcasting for 3 decades?
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday June 19 2017, @02:12AM (11 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @02:49AM (10 children)
You weren't around before Reagan?
I saw a steady decline.
Turned off TeeVee permanently when my equipment became incompatible with OTA.
Didn't see anything worth spending more money on.
At that point it was just "chewing gum for the eyes". [quoteinvestigator.com]
Had found better sources of information.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @03:40AM (9 children)
When did American TV start to decline?
And when did American education start that fall too?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:37AM (8 children)
It's called Neoliberalism. [soylentnews.org]
It got a big boost from The Powell Memo in 1971. [google.com]
(He did such a good job with that that he later got a gig with SCOTUS.)
Ronnie Raygun really kicked it into gear in 1981.
Newt Gingrich was also instrumental.
WRT TeeVee, it was Reagan's guys. [google.com]
Slick Willie shifted things into high gear in the 1990s.
Defunding and destroying public education and public libraries and public parks and all the rest of The Commons was just part of the plan.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @06:28AM (7 children)
Gotta start a book on The World According to gewg.
Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich were neoliberal powerhouses! Alongside their best buddy, Bill Clinton! And it's a plot, by Justice Powell!
Actually, the memo can mostly be summarised as: "Lobby and PR". Given that it's pretty much the parallel to what the unions had been, and have been, and still are doing, I don't see that there's anything particularly otherworldly about that idea.
But ...
POWELL MEMORANDUM
... sounds so creepy. So conspiratorial. So ... EVIL.
Definitely keep that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @07:22AM (6 children)
PRIVATIZE EVERYTHING.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @01:41PM (5 children)
Businesses don't have the power to privatise anything. They can lobby for it. They can argue for it. They can't enforce it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @09:31PM (4 children)
Don't know about where you are, but in the USA corporations can buy elections/public servants/legislation.
Here, "political donations" are simply graft ("Citizens United").
Here, if a corporation doesn't like a candidate, they can run their own and throw enough money at him to defeat the guy who was thinking about doing the most good for the greatest number of people.
Here, laws are routinely written by corporations.
Sometimes the legislators don't even read those before introducing them onto the floor of the cameral.
Similar deal for "think tanks" and articles in Lamestream Media, serving to sway public opinion to support those corporation-written bills.
With a blind spot as large as yours, you shouldn't be allowed to drive.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 20 2017, @12:47AM
Counterexample:
Clinton outspent the Trumpster roughly 2:1. She barely scraped a plurality, and lost the electoral college by a country mile.
Now explain to us again about the magic power of money running everything, because my popcorn just finished popping and I want entertainment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 22 2017, @04:38AM (2 children)
Oooh, another more recent case!
Georgia. Newt Gingrich's old seat. The democrats roll in with Ossoff and a seachest full of cold, hard cash!
He loses by a wider margin than Clinton did. ... shit. Guess they should have spent more.
Or is it just that the republicans are somehow getting better value for money? Write your answers on the back of a $100 note and send it to the DNC! (They could use the help.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 22 2017, @07:36PM (1 child)
Karen Handel should be in prison for all the slimy acts she has committed.
She's been heavily involved in voter suppression via the deceitful cross-state checklist thing. [google.com]
(That flick is subtitled "Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps".)
Apparently, folks in Georgia prefer politicians who are crooked.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 23 2017, @05:37AM
Still doesn't mean that corporations can buy outcomes they like.
Ossoff got plenty of that big money love, and didn't get much electoral love.
So I guess we're back to: big business can lobby and run PR. So much for the Giant Neoliberal Takeover.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 19 2017, @02:13AM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Monday June 19 2017, @01:14AM (2 children)
Back in the 70's. Why? Realized later was bored, at the time I just hated it. I had a 4.0 when I dropped out, and was taking advanced classes. I was flat out bored.
Dropped out I think Sep '75. At the time I was selling hash in high school, making some good money buying by the ounce and selling by the gram. I sold 3 1/4 ounces do 3 friends, the 4th 1/4 oz was pure profit.
The point? My English teacher talked me into doing 1 more semester to graduate (in December). I rejoined high school some 3 weeks late, still kept a 4.0 average, and graduated in December. English teacher took us to see A Boy and his Dog for a field trip. Also saw Slaughterhouse 5 on a field trip. Got to see titties on that one.
Fast forward 3-4 years later. Turns out the guy I bought my oz of hash from was buying the hash from my English teacher.
/ point being?
// I'm old, I ramble
/// but when I found out the source of my hash my mind was blown
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @01:59PM (1 child)
Well now a days if your child is legitimately bored in HS you can have them take the GED and go to Community College. That is what I plan on doing with my kid after I realized I wasted about 3 years of my life in HS. I was bored to tears!
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday June 21 2017, @12:31AM
I took the GED and passed, my English teacher convinced me a GED wasn't worth much more than a Bachelors from National University.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(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.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Monday June 19 2017, @04:14AM
It can't be worse at this point. I went to an "alternative school" when I was a kid, it was a lottery based school that received public funding but also got money from grants and running non-stop fundraisers. When I was there it was in the top 5 schools in my state. The high rank made problems for the local teachers union and district management because all the other schools sucked, best way to fix it was to crash the school with no survivors so that the district didnt have strong competition. Went to a similar middle school with some sweet sweet Gates money, two teachers were nationally renowned with one of them traveling to Europe several times a year to help set up similar programs. I was in the classroom as an aid when she was fired.
Public schools never got better, but by ending alternative programs it made the district look better. While this seems like a cost cutting vampire republican thing to do, our board was all libs in a very liberal city.
Why not give it a shot.
Oh, thats right, it might give Trump a win if America gets even a little better. Maybe we should start burning down schools to ensure he looks like a fascist #resist
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @04:50AM
PBS has kept up with the stupid of your parents, they run deepak chopra specials and not five doctors, the stupid is starting to burn very badly
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday June 19 2017, @06:20AM (1 child)
Maybe because it's a single three-hour series? It's not like PBS is known (yet, anyway) for continuously running government propaganda.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @07:41AM
It seems pretty clear that you consume Lamestream Media and little else.
Spend some time at Media Matters for America and/or Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Monday June 19 2017, @01:19PM (3 children)
The latest trend is that high schools no longer report class ranks, and either don't announce a valedictorian or announce a "top 10". Nobody dares suggest, however, that they stop awarding medals and recognition for the sports programs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @02:13PM (2 children)
That sounds like grade-A bullshit. I can't fucking stand this.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Monday June 19 2017, @03:08PM (1 child)
I just recently saw an article about this,
http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/17/schools-worry-about-kids-getting-too-competitive-remove-valedictorian-status/ [dailycaller.com]
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/good-day/261874092-story [fox5atlanta.com]
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/tennessee/articles/2017-06-15/valedictorians-days-numbered-schools-rethink-class-ranking [usnews.com]
Just grabbed three random ones. This is the whole "participation trophy" thing where everyone needs to win so that nobody feels bad.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday June 19 2017, @05:34PM
The problem happens when the focus is on winning rather than gaining knowledge. But prizes for just breathing is of course just rubbish.