Sunday, March 17, 2013

Does the Bi-Partisan Consensus on School Reform Really Help Reduce Inequality



There is no bi-partisan consensus in this country on how to eliminate poverty. However, there is a bi-partisan consensus on how to improve schools- weaken unions, expand school choice, rate teachers on student test scores, create and impose national standards and test students on them from grades K-12. Is this set of policy measures going to reduce poverty and inequality? One way to judge this is to see in whose pockets the immense funding these reforms involve ends up. Who gets the contracts to create the tests? Who gets the funds to administer the reforms? Who are hired as teachers? Are there any direct benefits in terms of employment or business opportunities to people in low income and working class communities, or will all the benefits come "down the road" when these allegedly better educated students will graduate from college and get good jobs? If the answer to the last question is "No?" tell me why School Reform isn't a new strategy for profit maximization for American business and a jobs program for the upper middle class

No comments: