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Dear Media Pundit, You say Philanthropist; I say Robber Baron
This article included no mention of Ed in ’08/Strong American Schools. CBS News did not mention the Strong American Schools story but highlighted the tale of the Oregon first grade teacher trying to sell her student’s winter coat on E-Bay. Actually, I am relieved. For once, maybe the media disinterest in education will work in our favor and the Broad-Gates plan won’t get that much notice. However, money will out, and $60 million will buy a lot of attention. So we must look beyond the breathless awe that $60 million dollars will buy and notice how deeply flawed this campaign is. The Associated Press insists “the project takes no position on what the solutions should be,” but there is a definite agenda in this Ed in ’08/Strong American Schools campaign. Praised for being “scrupulously bipartisan, with a former chair of the Democratic National Committee and recently stepped-down chair of the Republican National Committee, this effort is corporate to the core. Eli Broad and Bill Gates are spending $60 million dollars to buy educational policy. They will lobby for three things: a longer school day and longer school year, merit pay, and national standards. This is an effort to buy educational policy. Kudos to the editors of the Longview News-Journal who recognize this, warning that when locals don’t pay attention to their schools, “other people start making the rules.” They point to the reviled TAKS as a reminder. What we have here is two filthy rich fellows recycling the crisis mongering of "A Nation At Risk" to promote national standards and a squeeze on teachers. The Broad Foundation describes itself as “a national venture philanthropy”; a better term would be puppeteer philanthropy. For a look at the insidious way Broad has worked to usurp local control of schools, just enter his name in the search on my website. http://www.susanohanian.org. Kathy Emery and I also describe his agenda in Why Is Corporate America Bashing Our Public Schools? Gates’ influence is a bit more problematic but his “gifts” also have their price. For starters, you will find Philip Kovacs’ Common Dreams article on Gates and the Corporatization of our schools. As Kovacs points out, Gates has spent almost a billion dollars influencing American public schools, and “When corporate leaders shape government institutions according to their needs, we move away from democracy and toward corporatism, a relative of, and arguably a precursor to, fascism.” Broad and Gates have embarked on a PR campaign both to ramp up hysteria about the so-called failure of public education and to divert attention from corporate greed. They declare, “America’s students are losing out. The world is changing, jobs are evolving.” At the Schools Matter blog , Jim Horn calls this “a ramped-up effort to further divert attention from the corporate-inspired third-worlding of America and the Walmartization of American workers.” When Broad-Gates intone workers for a global economy, think outsourcing. Read Jean Anyon’s Radical Possibilities. Poverty, she argues, is a consequence not only of inadequate schooling but also of regional and federal policies that fail to provide access to living-wage jobs, decent housing, and health care. Stop blaming schoolteachers and stop blaming the poor. It’s the greed economy stupid. The diversionary tactics are working. According to an April 25, 2007, Dallas Morning News editorial, all of Dallas is behind the plan to redesign the district so it is on "The Road to Broad," a map to turn DISD into the nation's top urban school district by 2010, as determined by The Broad Foundation. For some reason, Evita Peron’s “Don’t cry for me Argentina” rings in my ears. I may be happy the initial announcement of the Ed in ’08/Strong American Schools campaign received so little attention, but I’m restraining my glee because I know that in the end the corporate politicos and their media sycophants are already jumping on the bandwagon. Just look at the Democratic candidates’ call for stronger tests and higher standards. Broad-Gates are already two-thirds the way home in their agenda—while our professional organizations keep their silence. — Susan Ohanian |
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