WHERE’D I LEAVE MY MEMBERSHIP CARD?
I guess maybe I am a member of the VRWC. From Ed at the Brink:
I try to imagine myself as a privatizer. How would I proceed? If my objective were to dismantle public schools, I would begin by trying to discredit them. I would probably refer to them as “government” schools, hoping to tap into a vein of libertarian resentment. I would never miss an opportunity to sneer at researchers and teacher educators as out-of-touch “educationists.” Recognizing that it’s politically unwise to attack teachers, I would do so obliquely, bashing the unions to which most of them belong. Most important, if I had the power, I would ratchet up the number and difficulty of standardized tests that students had to take, in order that I could then point to the predictably pitiful results. I would then defy my opponents to defend the schools that had produced students who did so poorly.
Let’s see: Dismantle public schools? Check. G-schools? Double check plus. Sneering at edu-crats? So far, so good. NEA bashing? Every chance I get. Standardized tests? Not my thing. So, I’m batting .800.
The problem, I think, that supporters of the g-schools have is that they’re supporting the ideal of public schools. The reality is that they are a swamp of badly behaved “students” being indoctrinated into a “culture” that we reject outright. I encourage all such supporters to read Gatto’s Underground History of American Education. Then they’ll see why it’s not “right” (as opposed to “left”) to be anti-public schools.
UPDATE: I fixed the link to EatB.
2 Responses to “WHERE’D I LEAVE MY MEMBERSHIP CARD?”
 Comment by Aaron Mildenstein October 29th, 2004 at 2:25 pm |
Amen. I’ve been reading Gatto’s masterwork for several weeks now. I’m on Chapter 13. Before starting this book I already had a healthy distrust for g-schools and forced schooling. My wife and I homeschool our children. After 12 chapters of that book my eyes are wide open, well, certainly more open than they were. |
 Comment by Roy W. Wright October 29th, 2004 at 11:08 pm |
If my objective were to dismantle public schools… I would ratchet up the number and difficulty of standardized tests… Wow, I wish this were Bush’s motivation. |