Reply #39: Great thread topic. Great link. [View All]

[LWolf]

I'll play, with public education.

Outside of the small fraction of children served by Headstart, preschool has always been private.

Post-high school has always been mostly private. I benefited from free community college, although I paid for my books. That went away a couple of decades ago. There is still a benefit attending state community colleges and universities: they are less expensive, and easier to get into, than others.

It's still all about the mighty dollar, though, and who can afford to attend. When I think of public education, I think of a free education provided to all. I'm a strong advocate of universal public, free, preschool-college or trade school. The invisible, unbreakable, plexiglass barrier that keeps class divisions and protects the current powerholders from invasion by those on lower rungs all hinge on education. IMO.

The powerholders know this. That's why there has been a decades-long war against public education. Privatizing education keeps everything controlled by those who benefit from the current class barriers.

Some of the weapons in this battle to privatize public education are vouchers and charter schools. Vouchers give public tax money directly to private schools. Charter schools are a kinder, gentler way to do that. The schools are still "public," they just don't have to follow all the rules that the rest of the public schools do. Of course, if they are perceived to be superior, there will be a call for more: for more tax dollars spent on "public" schools run by private corporations, by religions, by various other private groups, and exempt from rules and regulations that govern public schools.

This isn't a republican issue any more. While it started with right wing republicans, more and more Democrats are participating in the erosion of public education. Democrats overwhelmingly embraced NCLB, which seeks to force public schools into failure and then to disband them. The Democratic nominee for president embraces charter schools.

The privatization of the nation's education system is marching full steam ahead, and, frankly, this educator doesn't see any significant barriers out there to slow it down.