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Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public
Schools?
Kathy Emery and Susan and Susan Ohanian have written a magnificent,
carefully documented, and high-voltage manifesto to confront the degradation
of our nation's schools by powerful corporations whose self-serving motives
and assaultive tactics have developed into a relentless and dehumanizing
juggernaut. Steam will be coming out of your ears by the time you finish
this extraordinary book. It should be a wake-up call to all who care abut
the future of our schools and all who truly value children.
—Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities: Children in
America's Schools
Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian shout "J'accuse!" to the Business Roundtable,
the Education Trust, politicians, and the rest who are selling out America's
children in the name of "high standards." A must read for all citizens, not
just parents and educators.
—Gerald L. Bracey, Author of On the Death of Childhood and the
Destruction of Public Schools
Emery and Ohanian decode the Orwellian doublespeak on education-such as "no
child left behind"-cutting through the smokescreen of testing that obscures
the actual agenda of privatization.
—David Barsamian, founder and director of Alternative Radio
An invaluable combo of information and fiery inspiration, this book equips
us to resist the business powers that be coiling themselves around public
schools to squeeze out all respectful, individual teaching.
—Carol Bly, Author of Changing the Bully Who Rules the World
Deluged by demands to regiment the curricula, noosed by high stakes tests,
many educators ask, "How can I keep my ideals and still teach?" With
meticulous research engagingly presented, Emery and Ohanian offer teachers
ways to both resist and create.
—Rich Gibson, San Diego State University
Q: How many businessmen does it take to screw up American schools?
A: Only 13, the number of members of the Business Roundtable assigned to the
Business Coalition for Education Reform! Emery and Ohanian explain why this
joke isn't funny, asking readers to raise their consciousness and their
voices to take back public education.
—Patrick Shannon, Pennsylvania State University, author of
Becoming Political, Too
Where exactly did high-stakes testing come from anyway? Neither parents,
teachers, administrators, nor school boards demanded it, and now many
communities feel powerless to reverse its appalling effect on our schools.
Hot on the heels of the testing masterminds and peeling back layer upon
layer of documentation, Kathy Emery and Susan Ohanian found a familiar scent
at the end of the paper trail. Corporate money. CEOs and American big
business have blanketed United States public education officials with their
influence and, as Emery and Ohanian prove, their fifteen year drive to
undemocratize public education has yielded a many-tentacled private-public
monster.
With stunning clarity and meticulous research, Emery and Ohanian take you on
a tour of board rooms, rightist think tanks, nonprofit "concerned citizens
groups," and governmental agencies to expose the real story of how current
education reform arose, how its deceptive rhetoric belies its goals, and the
true nature of its polarizing and disenfranchising mission.
Why is corporate America bashing our schools? Because it's in their
interests-not yours. What can you do to promote your best educational
interests? Read this exposé and get ready to dismantle the education-reform
machine.
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