Art Pearl Against the World

If public schooling is to be rescued from the clutches of an ever more aggrandizing, ever more unscrupulous, ever more insistent, ever more unAmerican global capitalism, the alternative must be clear and precise. Such an education must be perceived to be desirable and feasible by a goodly number - ultimately a majority. And by desirable meaning that students want to be part of it. It also must be sufficiently robust able to withstand the inevitable distortions by cacophonous loudmouths hired by Australia’s most famous refugee, Rupert Murdoch. O’Reilly and Beck as well as Limbaugh, et al who serve no other purpose other than to dumb down what passes for debate and thereby undermine democratic institutions. Democracy? Ah democracy. If democracy is the solution, it’s a slam dunk. Everybody loves democracy. Even more than they love Raymond. Yessss. Except there is no agreement to its meaning. Lots of folks embrace current corporate deform of education because they think it promotes...

The goal of No Child Left behind and all the so-called allied state education reform is to bring all of public education under corporate control. This is not a conspiracy. It is clear, straight-forward and unabashed. Every president from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama has endorsed it. President Obama heralds "We must ensure that our students will be able to compete in the global economy" almost every time he talks about education. All such endeavors to undermine democracy begins by scaring the shit out of us  This one began with a corporate created presidency- the now exalted Ronald Reagan. Reagan, as you may remember appointed a commission - The Commission on Educational Excellence - and that Commission issued a report, A Nation at Risk , That report, in its second paragraph evoked terrifying images associated with McCarthyism. If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have vi...