Gold Rush! The Race to Profit in Global Education Investment (Part 2 of Privateers)

[Starry Messenger]

There’s gold in them hills!

Under the cover of education reform is a reformation of the role of government in education by private companies who wish to deregulate the public school system in the same way other public commons have been deregulated since the 1960s.

"So, while the government’s role would still be significant, it would no longer operate the city’s entire portfolio of public schools. Instead, it would take on a role similar to the FAA’s role in monitoring the airline industry or a health department’s monitoring of restaurants.") http://educationnext.org/wave-of-the-future/

Into this deregulated vacuum awash in taxpayer billions rush hedge fund managers, capital investment groups and education investment industry companies that do what "investors" have done since they first came into existence: Starve out the little guy and amalgamate into global monopolies for greater profit.

In the same way that George Hearst bought and browbeat small-time prospectors into selling him their claims, the forces of global capital, dominated by the need to constantly expand to exploit markets, will eventually absorb "mom & pop" charter schools.

In our previous installment we described some of the investment and service companies trying to get in on this gold rush in the UK.( http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Hannah%20Bell/142 ) In this one we look at some of the charities, private chain-schools and for-profit education management companies trying to cash in.


CHARITIES

ARK (Absolute Return Kids)
Type: charity
Founder: Arpad Busson – chairman of EIM hedge fund
ARK Academies
Income: £81 million (31 Aug 2009)
Retained for future use: £46.9 million


ARK is an international "philanthropic co-operative" children’s charity that has worked on health, welfare and education projects in southern Africa, India, eastern Europe and the UK.

ARK runs eight academies in the UK modelled on American charter schools. It plans to add four more by 2012. It sells ARK Plus academic and behavioural support for programmes for Year 7 pupils. ARK has approached the New Schools Network to express its interest in offering help to parents and teachers who want to set up new schools.

The New Schools Network, a "charity" that advises folks who want to set up UK charters, has been criticized for refusing to reveal its funding sources:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/06/michael-gove-new-schools-transparency
New Schools s headed by a former adviser to the education secretary Michael Gove and was awarded £500,000 in public money by his department. Gove is the English equivalent to Arne Duncan.

Comment:

Prior to its entry into the country, ARK had no previous experience of running education services in the UK. ARK trustee Jennifer Moses was due to work as adviser to Gordon Brown in 2009 but had to give up days before starting when her husband, Ron Beller, lost more than £29 million due to the crash of his hedge fund. She is described as a "libertarian who supports private money in state education system". (Daily Mail, 5 Mar 2008) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jul/06/schools.newschools

Mr Busson's publicists concede that talk of "giving something back" is hackneyed, but insist that is what he wishes to do. Mr Busson describes Ark's aims as "measured philanthropy": he wants his charity to employ the rigours of the hedge fund industry to ensure its money brings maximum benefit to deprived children. The "absolute return" of Ark's name is a hedge fund term, describing a determination to improve results year-on-year.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Absolute_Return_for_Kids_%28ARK%29
From SourceWatch: ARK's chairman is French hedge fund tycoon Arpad A. BussonHYPERLINK "http://www.arkonline.org/about/team/directors_and_trustees.html" <2>. However, ARK's connections with the hedge fund industry go deeper than the background of its chairman. Unusually for an educational charity, ARK chose the journal HedgeFund Intelligence to advertise in late 2005 for a Programmes Director and Communications and Fundraising Director. The advertisement stated that "ARK's trustees drawn predominantly from within the hedge fund industry". <3>

An August 2005 bulletin published by the public sector union UNISON described ARK in unflattering terms: "A charity funded with millions made in City fund dealing wants to develop a network of city academies in the UK, modelled on American charter schools. The ludicrously named Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) has no experience of running education services in the UK and was recently thrown off an academy scheme in Islington North, London in June after the governors of one of the schools involved voted against." <4>

Arpad Busson is an international playboy who is currently engaged to Uma Thurman. He comes from a monied background. More here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=219&topic_id=28662&mesg_id=28782

The Biggest, Richest Party Ever
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/10/26/the-biggest-richest-party-ever/

80,000+ OF THE WORLD’S ELITE…80+ OF THE WORLD’S FINEST LOCATIONS…ALL WITHIN 24 HOURS…

Among those expected to attend are Liz Hurley, Uma Thurman and Simon Cowell. A table is reported to cost 100,000 pounds. ... The invitation includes a special edition Key-2 Luxury silver key ring, which gives the holder "access to thousands of personal contacts and exclusive VIP privileges for life, and is not available to purchase by the general public."

Before we get all judgemental, let’s be clear that this is all for charity. The money –- an expected 5 million to 10 million pounds — will go to the charity ARK (Absolute Return for Kids), founded by hedge-fund manager Arpad "Arki" Busson (aka "Mr. Uma Thurman"). The hosts include Mr. Busson, entrepreneur Tom Singh, a Pakistani Prince and Stanley Fink, the hedge funder and Tory Party Treasurer...

But is the Global Party the most efficient or best way to raise money for charity? The Red Cross last year raised $32 million through online giving, without the black-ties and caviar boats and pop stars.

http://www.theglobalparty.com/home


Oasis Community Learning
Category: Non-profit, religious
Type: Subsidiary charity of Oasis Trust
2009 budget = £6.5 million

Oasis Community Learning is a subsidiary charity of the Oasis Trust. It operates nine "academies" (aka charter schools) in England, as well as school-like entities overseas (India & Africa primarily).

Oasis Trust is a UK-based Christian charity which operates on 5 continents. On UK charity information sites its first listed aim is "the advancement of Christianity".
http://www.charitiesdirect.com/charities/churchcouk-community-projects-1123713.html

It is evangelical & a member of "Global Connections" -- The UK "network for world mission," Formerly known as the UK Evangelical Missionary Alliance. http://www.globalconnections.co.uk/ Oasis's job Academy job listings note: "it is vital that our staff own our Christ-centered ethos"
http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=114.

Comment:

Oasis is already in the US, partnered with America's Fuller Theological Seminary, "the largest multi-denominational Christian seminary in the world," and "arguably the most influential."
Influential graduates include Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) & Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ). Billy Graham was mentored by Fuller’s founders & continued his association as a Board member.
http://www.oasisuk.org/world/countries/USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuller_Theological_Seminary
http://www.fuller.edu/page.aspx?id=7693

Warren, Graham & Bright’s operations are networks of influence for the right-wing. For example, Bill Bright's Campus Crusade was funded by Nelson Bunker Hunt. Bright "positioned CCC as a major behind-the-scenes player in the creation of a network of organisations with overlapping memberships and finances. These included the Christian Freedom Fund, Moral Majority, Religious Roundtable, Christian Coalition, Alliance Defence Fund, Christian Voice...and the National Religious Broadcaster...(and).. the Council for National Policy (NCP)...

According to the New York Times NCP is "a little known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country. They meet at undisclosed locations for a confidential conference ... to strategize about how to turn the country to the Right". http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3960

Founder Steve Chalke states: “The struggle to reshape the meaning of politics is one we must engage in. The church has a major role and responsibility in this process.” Chalke is developing the Charities Parliament, in order to establish a stronger voice for third sector organizations in public life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Chalke.


Harris Federation:
Net incoming resources: £8.2 million (31 Aug 2009)

Harris Federation is the chain-school "charity" of the carpet magnate Philip Charles Harris, Baron Harris of Peckham (title circa 1996), a Conservative member of the House of Lords and businessman. Bill Gates bought a 3% share of his floor covering corporation, Carpetright PLC, in 2008. Little quid pro quo there, perhaps? Baron Harris is the 206th richest person in the UK and donates extensively to education, shades of his pal Bill.

However: Parliamentary written answers in December 2009 showed that the seven Harris academies open at that time had only received £3.7 million of the £8.5 million promised by Lord Harris for capital building work. In May 2010, it was reported that Harris and other providers held talks with parent campaigners about running a new state school in Wandsworth for profit; the school will be run by the provider and not the parents.
http://www.atl.org.uk/Images/ATL%20Privateers%20Brochure.pdf (p. 16)


FOR-PROFIT ACADEMIES

Cognita Group
Type: private limited company with share capital
Cognita Ltd, subsidiary to Cognita Holdings Ltd
Operating profit: £3.9 million (31 Aug 2009)

Formed in 2004 by Chris Woodhead together with Englefield Capital LLP (renamed Bregal Capital LLP in 2010), Cognita specialises in moderately priced private education. It is the largest private operator of schools in the UK. Its international schools division was created in October 2006. It currently has 52 schools (including nurseries, prep schools, primary and secondary schools) across the UK, Europe and south-east Asia (46 of which are in the UK). It employs 2,900 teaching and support staff and delivers to more than 15,200 pupils.

A lesson in private education

Despite a recession and the government's new 'public benefit' standard, the Cognita group of private schools is thriving....Those owned by the Cognita group have escaped these pressures by not claiming charitable status. The company was founded five years ago by a group of financiers, and has since bought up 49 schools. By 2013, reckons its chair, Chris Woodhead, it'll double that.

And – despite being a purely commercial venture – it is being helped in its ascent by the very rules intended to make schools offer a "public benefit".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/25/pri...

Englefield Capital LLP (Woodhead’s investment company)

Education and training

Englefield believes that education and training has huge potential as a sector, benefiting from strong underlying social and economic drivers and attractive business models. It benefits from positive demographics, undersupply, low or negative correlation to the business cycle and is recognised as increasingly valuable in the labour market. The sector has the advantage of visibility of revenues, costs and cash flow, low price elasticity and asset backing.
http://www.engcap.com/eng/sectors/education-and-training/


Kunskapsskolan and Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES):
Private for-profit Swedish chain-schools

Sweden underwent education reform in 1991-1992, concurrent with a political shift to the right which has ended the dominance of the Social Democrats, produced a two-term conservative PM, and most recently resulted in a right-wing party being seated in Sweden's Parliment for the first time in modern history:

"The victory of the conservative governing Alliance in Sweden’s parliamentary elections has definitively broken the dominance of the Social Democrats, writes the liberal daily Göteborgs-Posten: 'Fredrik Reinfeldt is the first conservative prime minister in modern times who has managed to be re-elected. That is a historic breakthrough. The Social Democrats will certainly form a government again at one point, but by then Sweden will be another country. Not less prone to solidarity, but with more civic freedoms, and founded upon low income tax and freedom of choice regarding the social system. The Social Democrats will no longer see Sweden as their domain. That is the most important consequence of this victory for the Alliance.'"
http://baltic-review.com/2010/09/20/the-end-of-an-era-swedish-right-wing-populists-enter-parliament/

Sweden's ed reform is similar to what's being pushed in the US: Tax money is used to fund education and families may place their children in the school of their "choice," including the so-called "independent" (charter) schools, most of which are for-profit. Sweden's reforms got high marks from that guru of economic "freedom," Milton Friedman. http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/11606/Voucher_Lessons_from_Sweden.html

So it's not surprising that two of the chain-schools who've indicated interest in operating British schools are Swedish for-profits looking to expand:

Kunskapsskolan:

Sweden's largest non-governmental school (32 schools in Sweden), currently in the process of opening 3 schools in the UK.

Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES):

Translates to "International English School," a Swedish for-profit chain school founded by Barbara Bergstrom, an American. Has 17 schools in Sweden, employs 800 people, and has revenues of 60 million British pounds. IES has partnered with University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), the world’s largest provider of international qualifications for 14–19 year olds ("non-profit" testing industry) -- which is itself already operating in Sweden, as well as 157 other countries. CIE also provides curriculum and consultancy world-wide.


EDUCATION MANAGEMENT, CONSULTANCY AND SUPPORT

GEMS (Global Education Management Systems)
Type: privately owned company based in Dubai
Turnover: £17.3 million (31 Aug 2009)

Part of the Varkey family holding group, GEMS Education manages an international network of schools in Europe, Asia and North America, providing education to nearly 100,000 students in 125 countries and employing 9,000 education professionals in approximately 60 schools. It claims to be the “…largest kindergarten to grade 12 private school operator in the world”.

Comment

GEMS Education originally intended to be one of the leading chains of UK independent schools acquiring a chain of 13 schools. GEMS Education intends to be a ‘major player’ in running the coalition government’s new free schools programme. Speaking at a conference in London former chief executive, Anders Hultin, stated that “the profit motive is essential for such projects to work”. He believes success is dependent upon being given autonomy from local authority control. He also said he felt England would eventually reconcile itself to privatisation in education when it saw the results. (Times educational supplement, 21 May 2010)

In 2007 GEMS joined forces with Edison Schools, the largest education management organization in the US. Edison had such a poor track record for running schools that several schools returned to their districts after being run by Edison management in the early part of the decade. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB112604287494033169.html “Edison Schools, as the venture was called, instantly bled cash but still attracted funding from the likes of Time Warner, J.P. Morgan Capital Corp. and the venture arm of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities. In 1999, after $112 million in accumulated losses, Mr. Whittle launched an initial public offering, raising $173 million. Three years later Edison's stock had dropped 98%. In 2003, with $60 million in loans in default, Mr. Whittle took the company private again. Today, instead of owning 1,000 private schools, Edison merely manages 157 public ones. Quite a comedown.” I guess the price for failure is more investment.

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6061295
Global giant Gems joins the gold rush for academy profits
News | Published in The TES on 22 October, 2010 | By: Irena Barker

One of the world's largest chains of private schools, which is headed in the UK by a former Ofsted chair, has become the latest company to join the "gold rush" of companies looking to profit from Coalition school reforms.

Zenna Atkins, chief executive of Gems in the UK, said she was in talks with academies about offering services to schools and would go "as big as they want and as fast as they want".
Critics of private sector involvement in state education said schools should be "very afraid" of the surge of interest from private providers, claiming the profit motive would jeopardise children's education.
Dubai-based Gems made a loss from its 12 British-based private schools last year, but believes this can be offset by profit from the Government's moves towards more independence in state education.

Fieldwork Education:

“Fieldwork” -- Interesting choice for the company name.

Fieldwork Education is a for-profit education support company providing curriculum to 1000 schools world-wide, as well as school management, consultancy & other services. It's a division of World Class Learning Schools and Systems Group LTD, which operates private schools in Britain, the US, and Dubai:
http://evgrieve.com/2010/04/blimey-world-class-learning-academy.html

There appears to be a real estate angle:
http://www.wclgroup.com/view_pagecontent.php?resourceid=9;id=r9#r9

Fieldwork has managed all of Shell Oil's schools since 1996, i.e. it recruits, hires and fires staff, provides curriculum, manages facilities, etc.
http://www.fieldworkeducationservices.com/view_pagecontent.php?resourceid=11;id=r11#r11
　
WCL was founded by an unnamed group of "investors" and is now backed by Sovereign Capital, a private equity company. "Sovereign has a strong track record of investing up to £40m of equity in entrepreneurial, UK businesses with over 130 Buy & Build transactions successfully completed so far. Sovereign specifically invests in the service based sectors of healthcare, education & training and business support services." A quick glance at their site and various news items gives the impression they're investing in consolidating small to medium players in these sectors.
http://www.sovereigncapital.co.uk/

VT GROUP:
As mentioned in our previous installment, VT Group is the education services subsidiary of Babcock International, a global corporation whose main income stream comes from defense & government contracting. Babcock International began its life as the UK unit of America's Babcock & Wilcox.

VT Group is getting into the education management business too, & has plans to run up to 1000 schools in Britain -- for profit.

A Bell/Messenger Production
Link to Part 1 of Privateers Series: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9314623

[leftstreet]

1. Some very creepy statements here

"...benefiting from strong underlying social and economic drivers and attractive business models."

:scared:

K&R

Excellent links

[Starry Messenger]

3. But they love children!

Or so we keep being told. *Seriously* creepy, isn't it?

[madfloridian]

2. Religion groups masquerading as education management.

Actually not much masquerading...doing it out in the open.

"Oasis Community Learning
Category: Non-profit, religious
Type: Subsidiary charity of Oasis Trust
2009 budget = £6.5 million

Oasis Community Learning is a subsidiary charity of the Oasis Trust. It operates nine "academies" (aka charter schools) in England, as well as school-like entities overseas (India & Africa primarily).

Oasis Trust is a UK-based Christian charity which operates on 5 continents. On UK charity information sites its first listed aim is "the advancement of Christianity".
http://www.charitiesdirect.com/charities/churchcouk-com...

It is evangelical & a member of "Global Connections" -- The UK "network for world mission," Formerly known as the UK Evangelical Missionary Alliance. http://www.globalconnections.co.uk / Oasis's job Academy job listings note: "it is vital that our staff own our Christ-centered ethos"
http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=114 .

Comment:

Oasis is already in the US, partnered with America's Fuller Theological Seminary, "the largest multi-denominational Christian seminary in the world," and "arguably the most influential."
Influential graduates include Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) & Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ). Billy Graham was mentored by Fuller’s founders & continued his association as a Board member.

[Starry Messenger]

15. Your work on religious charter schools has been stellar.

The creeping into international education management orgs. is alarming knowing what we know about the schools. And taxpayer money goes to this!

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. As always... espectaculo. K and R

[Starry Messenger]

75. Thank you SD!

Honored to see you here. I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

[Smarmie Doofus]

79. I'll have more to say on the weekend, most likely.

Need time to look it over carefully.

That's a lotta work you guys put together.

[TBF]

5. Globalization -

Now that capital is organized and pillaging worldwide, workers need to think about banding together to fight back on the same scale. Excellent research, Starry.

[Starry Messenger]

6. Hannah Bell and I have been working on this together.

Thank you for checking it out TBF. It has never been more clear that capital intends to raid every corner of our lives. We need to fight back and make it hurt.

[LooseWilly]

7. Hmm... raise money to open a school as a hedge against unemployment?

"Guaranteed revenue stream", as a phrase put into a prospectus, must be like investor crack to get results like: "In 1999, after $112 million in accumulated losses, Mr. Whittle launched an initial public offering, raising $173 million. Three years later Edison's stock had dropped 98%." ...

—"Yeah man, I'll suck your dick if you you'll cut me in on that 'guaranteed revenue stream'..." It reads like the 21st Century remake of Super Fly...

[Starry Messenger]

12. Well, that guaranteed revenue stream

would be amplified with a steady supply of tax money. You have a captive group who uses the service and government billions. I'm guessing that would be an inducement to stick with the private suppliers until you could force public support for the demand. That "free market" at work...

[DeSwiss]

8. K&R

Well now the investment bankers can get at the last bit of nut left in the shell.

- And no doubt that they'll do for education what they've already done for industry, manufacturing and housing.

[Starry Messenger]

41. That's an amazing metaphor DeSwiss.

It is the last bit of nut in the shell. They really burrowed in deep, didn't they?

[bettyellen]

66. this bit bears repeating: " investment bankers (will) .. do for education what they've already....

...... done for industry, manufacturing and housing".

Very well said. I'm memorizing that. And subbing for education whatever else they;re trying to get their greedy little hands on.

[Starry Messenger]

67. Excellent point!

It does bear repeating. I'm not sure why privatizing proponents think the investment bankers and vulture philanthropists are suddenly going to straighten up and fly right just because they've turned their scopes on public education. It's really business as usual. I just found a quote from Wednesday's Telegraph UK that really underscores this point:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/benedict-brogan/8091294/The-biggest-threat-now-facing-free-schools-is-the-enemy-within.html

However, as that episode suggests, the biggest threat facing free {charter} schools is now the enemy within. Senior figures in Downing Street have discussed how to rally support for Mr Gove, who is seen as isolated in a hostile department, able to count only on a small team of advisers and ministers, alongside the minority of officials who have embraced the reforms. They mutter darkly about "sabotage"; one of the Prime Minister's closest allies was heard to ask, "Shouldn't we do to Education what Ronald Reagan did to the air traffic controllers, and simply sack the lot?"

Capitalism: doing the same shit over and over in the name of "innovation" until everyone dies.

[Hannah Bell]

9. how anyone can look at this picture & pretend it's not about privatization & the founding of a new

global industry for the titans to play their dick-swinging games with, i'll never know.

furthermore, their games are going to be funded with tax dollars -- the better to suck the money out of various countries & move it elsewhere.

knr

[Starry Messenger]

11. The usual suspects have been quiet in these threads.

I think we got out in front of information they either didn't know, or didn't want anyone else to figure out.

[Catshrink]

16. They'll find a way to defend it...

Don't you know, Starry, it's the teachers unions that are going to destroy everything? They will destroy the planet! They are evil!!!!!

[Starry Messenger]

17. In the meantime the privatizers are creating their financial Death Star

to take out *our* quiet little planet. I don't know if you saw this link last week Catshrink, I posted it in another thread. These assholes are quite frank about their plans for us:

http://eduvest.blogspot.com/2010/01/education-industry-investment-business.html

Seems like it was all about lack of any meaningful social development for teachers. The teaching model is irrelevant. There's no way to improve a teacher, and "get more out of their performance." This seems utterly sad and devoid of hope.

Teachers should be paid more, but there is this socialist attitude around teaching. One panelist said that he could foresee that the teacher's union is the last great union that needs to be broken. It's limiting attitudes on what is viable in teaching and what can enrich the society.

I even jumped in and circled back to this point about a JP Morgan analyst. Why can't a teacher build herself up as a brand? Why can't she sell her brand? Why can't she be paid for things like being a consultant, or be a speaker at a business conference because she has figured out how to run her school classroom like a business, using a John Dewey model of taking the student out of the isolated icebox of a classroom and allowing the free world to come in and the student to go out in it.

School, I alluded, has always been about control, as if there is this social mindset that what happens in school is only about training, when it can indeed be about fixing social problems, making money from fixing them, and being the incubator for the world's greatest entrepreneurs.

We are "evil" because we stand in the way of their chewing the guts out of public education. x(

[Hannah Bell]

20. teacher as "brand". god, these people are sick.

[Hannah Bell]

21. pm kick

[Starry Messenger]

26. Sociopaths.

They have to be, right?

[Hannah Bell]

44. k

[Reader Rabbit]

10. K&R

Good job researching this subject and disseminating the info.

[Starry Messenger]

13. Thank you RR

:)

[Panaconda]

14. K&R n/t

[RainDog]

18. K&R

great post!

[Starry Messenger]

45. Thank you RD!

[asdjrocky]

19. I'm so glad I don't have a child in the system now.

I feel terrible for parents and teachers and ultimately the kids.

[Starry Messenger]

47. Kids deserve so much better than this.

This is massive social engineering done in the name of profits. It's one of the most ruinous plans I've ever seen. :(

[blindpig]

22. k&r

Everything is grist for their mill. This will go on until they make us pay for the air we breath.
Only one thing to do....

[Starry Messenger]

49. And there will be people who tell us we should be grateful to buy our air.

"Oxygen reform"!

[LWolf]

23. Thank you.

I think I'll simply link to this post every time someone here wants to defend the privatizers and union-busters elected by our party.

[Starry Messenger]

51. Thank LWolf!

I think we'll have another thread coming along soon as well.

[chimpymustgo]

24. K&R. Thank you for this frightening but informative thread. nt

[Starry Messenger]

52. Thank you chimpymustgo.

Like they always say:



Spread the word. That's what it's all about.

[Panaconda]

25. Excellent

This should stay up for all to see at least through the weekend.

[Starry Messenger]

36. I'll try to keep it kicked.

Today I have a long day subverting the youth of America. ;)

[WinkyDink]

27. Good-bye, Liberal Arts---which many people hate, anyway.

"I hate poetry!" "My kid could paint that!" "I don't care when that war/invention/election/revolution/discovery happened!"

TPTB want RW drones, pardon the redundancy, who will pride themselves on being patriotic as they go off to their deaths in more illegal and rapacious land-grabs called the "Continuing War on Terror" ("on" should be, of course, "of").

These new schools will inculcate Fascist and Feudal "values" (e.g., the Minimum Wage is an evil plot to weaken moral fiber); will perpetuate American myths and lies (including the most recent Bushco ones); will promote "family values" while raking in billions from pornography, child-trafficking, and the global drug-trade; and will continue the move to transform "citizens" with all the attendant expectations and rights to merely "consumers" whose sole "right," nay patriotic DUTY, is to enrich further TPTB.
Remember: When terror strikes, go shopping.

[Tansy_Gold]

29. And liberal arts are all about understanding the human species,

which is why the right is terrified of them.


K & R

(and thank you to the person who "alerted" me! :hi:)



TG

[WinkyDink]

30. What do you mean about "alerted"?

[Starry Messenger]

32. I PMed a couple of folks I thought might appreciate the thread

:)

[chervilant]

39. And,

I am most grateful that you did!

Part of me wants to abandon my efforts to become a teacher. Then, I read something like this, and I realize viscerally that I cannot give up!

I have students coming out of the woodwork to attend my college algebra sessions. I get a multitude of comments about how I 'make learning math fun' and I 'explain algebra so clearly.' These comments confirm for me that our contemporary approach to teaching math in secondary schools is just not working!

Why have the 'public educators' du jour created an approach to teaching math wherein math concepts are taught as isolates, and most of our students are never exposed to 'the bigger picture'!?! Why have our 'public educators' promoted text books that most of our students cannot read, let alone 'understand'?!

Those of you who know my position on public education will have already realized that I am being sarcastic in asking these pointed questions--the corporatists don't want an educated workforce! People who can think for themselves--and compete for the jobs that pay the most money--are ill-suited for service industry work! Furthermore, erudite people tend to ask the most discomfiting questions...

[Starry Messenger]

42. You are quite welcome!

It is tempting to abandon ship in the face of this overwhelming wave of idiocy that is coming our way, via high finance. But all hands are going to be needed to fight these a-holes. Going and teaching everyday and realizing that the bankers just see dollar signs on the back of every kid gets my blood boiling.

[chervilant]

77. hmm....

I notice the usual detractors are mysteriously absent from this thread. I wonder if they're saving their vitriol for madfloridian. Sad to see fellow Democrats (and DUers!) supporting Arne Duncan's disgusting assault on teachers and teachers unions.

[Starry Messenger]

78. I wonder if they'd wander in if we used the word "charter" in the title of the OP.

I'm not sure what the keywords are for the "reform"ers to dive into a thread. I did get one unrec right toward the end of the rec window, so I guess at least one person was pissed off. ;)

[MedicalAdmin]

91. I was alerted and I'm glad I was.

Great post.

But unlike a few of the posters here, I don't find it scary. I guess I take a "know your enemy" approach to things. I guess the only other thing we need is addresses and schedules of the biggest con artists / hedgefund managers / crooks / education reformers and we are "good to go."

Honestly tho', unless and until the currect trend in politics here and abroad being pushed by the hyper wealthy in their quest for more free government handouts is reversed, I don't hold out much hope for the worlds (brief) experiment with democracy and enlightenment.

We need to take a page from the very early french republics playbook and ask Dr. Guillotine to come up with a humane way to dispose of the rats.

[Tansy_Gold]

33. Oh, not "that" kind of alert! ;-)

Someone just let me know that this thread was out here and as I scanned through the response titles, I saw yours and I knew it was just the place for me to sneak in a quick K&R until later when I have more time to read, digest, and respond.

I'm a liberal arts grad, with a master's (more or less, don't ask) in sociology. When I watched undergrads in biz or mgt or tech programs taking their required LAS courses, I was appalled at how out of touch they were. Get an MBA, make lotsa money, lose your humanity.

After five years of living with the BF, who is one of those aforementioned biz types, I've finally brought him around to a wider understanding and appreciation of the arts, social sciences, etc, none of which has diminished his biz focus but rather expanded it.

The right wing has tried to destroy the humanities, the social sciences, history, literature, all that good stuff that makes us human. And look where it's got us!


As one of my profs said, it doesn't take humans to make art; it takes art to make humans.


TG, NTY

[WinkyDink]

35. Ah! And whew! :-) Teaching "Of Mice and Men" was on my personal sneaky Liberal agenda!

I basically used the curriculum to highlight Liberal values! Chaucer was always good for that!

[socialist_n_TN]

65. They don't want a well rounded type of education

because that developes critical thinking skills. And critical thinking is DEATH to capitalist propaganda. They want a narrow, job specific, type of education that will lock people from birth into a particular type of job in a particular industry. People are easier to control that way. No other options is a GOOD thing to capitalists.

[Dinger]

28. K & R For this Very Important Thread!

Bookmarking too.

[Starry Messenger]

55. Thanks Ding!

Solidarity. :fistbump:

[Dinger]

64. No Problem Buddy!

Solidarity indeed. :grouphug:

[Solly Mack]

31. K&R

[Starry Messenger]

56. Thank you SM!

Thank you for all you do!

[inna]

34. Wow! Awesome thread. K&R, marked for later reading.

:kick:

[felix_numinous]

37. Privatization is a nice word for selling off our resources, utilities and land

to private owners with an agenda. It is indeed a monopoly game where a few people have all the monopoly money and are on a spending spree to buy up the whole board.

And they are not done selling off America, they want to sell off our secular public education, eroding the wall between church and state. They have sold off nearly everything else out under us, against our consent--Americans are being swindled, looted and lied to.

Thank you for working on such a crucial aspect to the corruption, I always saw the privatization of schools, the teacher firings, and the rewriting of the subject matter as suspect. It is deeply disturbing, because it opens up the system for yet more abuse of individual rights, and more stringent programming.

Let's all make a decision not to use their Orweillian language to describe what they are doing anymore. This is where the insanity starts, by agreeing to call something by a new false name. Let us call this selling off our resources and utilities, or any other way to speak the truth!!!

Thank you Starry Messenger and Hannah Bell!! :hi:

[Starry Messenger]

38. Thank you felix_numinous!

The peculiar hurry of the "reform" movement and the pattern of the attacks on unions were a big clue that there was something more afoot then a simple disgruntlement with public schools. I appreciate your attention to our research, which shows that the big money has indeed landed on Education like a locust swarm.

[Luminous Animal]

40. Wow. Excellent stuff here. Thank you!

[Starry Messenger]

57. Thank you for checking it out LA.

I appreciate all your posts!

[The Philosopher]

43. If private business

starts schools, when will they get involved in education policies to make their schools even cheaper to run? The same model that promotes unethical practices in regards to health, investments, and environment (aka, deregulation), people want that in the Education system? After a while they'll lobby congress to allow them to separate children in order to cook the numbers. We'll be back to specialized schools, depending on your disability, your race, your religion, your financial status, even your social status. And guess what? There won't be any alternative, because, as they've heavily done now, in order to get that far they will have to demonize public schools like crazy.

[Starry Messenger]

58. Great insights, The Philospher.

Belated welcome to DU, also. I've been enjoying your writing here. Thank you for joining us!

[Ignis]

46. K&R

Great stuff here. :patriot: Those who still think this is about "choice" are fooling themselves; this is purely about profit.

Thanks for including the link to part 1. :thumbsup:

[Starry Messenger]

48. We know what kind of "choices" these corporations usually leave us with...

You'd think people would apply a little sense to the push for "reform" with the same players involved. Thank you Ignis!

[maryf]

50. K&Rnt

[Starry Messenger]

59. Solidarity Mary!

:fistbump: and TGIF! :beer:

[maryf]

68. Solidarity Starry!

:fistbump: Have one for me!

[Gabi Hayes]

53. hey! where are all the ............. (OK, edited in spirit of felicitous discussion)?

I seriously want to hear from them, and see some 'data-based' reasoning behind their support for charters, against those bad bad bad teachers and their unions, who are the ONLY thing standing in the way of a renaissance the likes of which the would make the Finns turn green

[Starry Messenger]

54. Maybe they're all getting ready for Halloween.

:evilgrin:



It takes serious preparation to make hedge fund activity look like the return of the little red schoolhouse.

[Jakes Progress]

60. Nope. It would be wood-chuck costumes.

Or maybe those aren't costumes at all.

[Starry Messenger]

61. Woodchucks dressing for success!

How sweet. :sarcasm: Perhaps these two are from the Woodchuck Charter Academy of Sensible Expectations.

[Gabi Hayes]

69. I wish I could link pix from our Halloween parade at school today.

I got to help the K-3 boys who couldn't change by themselves

one kid had a ninja costume with arm and leg wraps, two hoods, a cape, and a sash, in addtion to tie-ups in the back. no velcro!

put fake blood on two young moonlighters....food coloring all OVER my hands

maybe the district will allow some pix next week. if so, I'll post

[bettyellen]

62. too late to rec this, so ill kick it. Thank you!

[Starry Messenger]

63. Thank you bettyellen.

The more eyeballs, the better. :toast: Nice to see you.

[Gabi Hayes]

70. hey! have you seen this most excellent site? "Not Waiting for Superman"

http://www.notwaitingforsuperman.org/

This article, written expressly for NOTwaitingforsuperman.org, explores the money behind the movie, its promoters, and those who will benefit from the movie. As author Barbara Miner writes, “In education, as in so many other aspects of society, money is being used to squeeze out democracy.” After examining the role of hedge funds, foundations and other players, she asks, “Should the American people put their faith in a white billionaires boys’ club to lead the revolution on behalf of poor people of color?”





http://www.notwaitingforsuperman.org/Articles/20101020-MinerUltimateSuperpower

Squeezing democracy
Waiting for Superman and its surrounding campaign reflect an influential trend that has proven adept at dominating education policy in both Republican and Democratic administrations. This bipartisan alliance unites 20th Century conservatives closely aligned with the Republican Party who made the bulk of their money before the dawn of the digital era, and 21st Century billionaires more loosely aligned with the Democratic Party who generally made their fortunes through digitally based technology. (These two groups can loosely be described as analog conservatives and digital billionaires.)

Despite their differences, both groups embrace market-based reforms, entrepreneurial initiatives, deregulation and data-driven/test-based accountability as the pillars of educational change. Under the banner of challenging bureaucracy and promoting innovation, both groups chafe at public oversight and collective bargaining agreements. Above all, both rely on money to get their way.

Waiting for Superman and its accompanying campaign are part of a coordinated and well-funded intervention in a polarized national debate over educational policy.
Two decades ago, challenges to public schools were spearheaded by groups such as the Christian Coalition, a grassroots, church-based phenomenon that sought to abolish the U.S. Department of Education and to elect religious conservatives who could take over local and state school boards. Today’s bipartisan corporate reformers tend to sidestep democracy altogether by abolishing school boards, promoting mayoral control, and hiring corporate-style CEO’s who answer to a city’s power elite. No longer preoccupied with abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, they instead use their wealth to effectively control it and to dictate reform.

This developing alliance is evident in Waiting for Superman.


this is fairly long, comparatively speaking, but it's a very good primer/exposre to the mult-faceted attack mounted by the corporatists who would 'reform' public education out of existence

[Starry Messenger]

71. Yes! That article is golden.

I'm putting together links on companies taking advantage of the New Markets Tax Credit, which is behind the huge push to capitalize in Education. Not Waiting For Superman posted that link on their Facebook page and I bookmarked it. It's jaw-dropping how far these corporations have gone with their financial plans in the past few years. When the anti-teacher propaganda started showing up, I felt like a hive of angry bees had been just waiting for a hole to break open so they could all swarm through it. I'm so glad people are starting to write about the origins of this crap and push back.

Hell, just five minutes ago I found a newsletter called the New Market Tax Credit Monthly Report dated 2007. They've been hiding in plain sight!

[Gabi Hayes]

74. the whole site is an excellent repository for the kind of info you all are gathering

KUTHGW

[Starry Messenger]

76. What is KUTHGW?

It sounds very HP Lovecraft. :D I wonder if their website would be interested in these threads?

[erodriguez]

72. Great post, Starry.

K&R

[Starry Messenger]

73. Thank you erodriguez.

I'm really happy to see that people are interested in these OPs. It's a boost to the spirits when you are spending a sordid hour in the armpit of a hedge fund manager's website. ;)

[Hannah Bell]

82. ;>0

"some" are interested.

"some" want to "discuss" michelle rhee.

[Starry Messenger]

83. Ooh, what am I missing?

Must be someone I have on ignore. Not that there's much to discuss with Michelle Rhee...unless you're into duct tape.

[Hannah Bell]

84. lol. the "education manifesto" thread.

[Starry Messenger]

85. I had to log out to see it.

Why there are all sorts of people on that thread who aren't on this one! I wonder why? :sarcasm:

[Hannah Bell]

86. yeah, they tend to ignore the facty threads for the ones full of contentless rhetorical about

"the children".

[Starry Messenger]

87. Perhaps they are stunned into silence,

awed by our brilliance. :D

[Hannah Bell]

88. lol! you got me good!

[JDPriestly]

80. Thanks. I will keep this article in mind.

This is hideous, just hideous.

[Starry Messenger]

81. You're welcome JDPriestly.

Thank you for checking it out. Hideous describes it very well.

[Blue_Tires]

89. ttt

[Starry Messenger]

90. Thank you Blue_Tires. n/t