The so-called educational reform movement in America is a total fraud. There I said it. No mincing of words, no watered down argument. The movement to standardize all classrooms in America with a so-called Common Core is not only pedagocially unsound, it is un-American. It is everything that we should not want. It is counter to everything that is great in America: individualism, creativity, inventiveness, entrepreneurial spirit, democracy.
Education reform, at least the so-called reform movement that is getting all the funding and driving all the decisions in America is all about standardizing and narrowing curriculum choices for students and teachers. This is about handing over control of our schools to businessmen who know little to nothing about educating young people. Corporate America wants to institute (reinstitute) the factory model back into the school system as a complement to the lowering of American wages and work expectations. And in the process, if a few large and wealthy and politically connected publishing houses make a ton of money, all the better.
Yes we have schools that are failing their students. But it isn't as widespread as some whould have us believe. And no matter, is the narrowing of the curriculum while limiting exploration and creativity and discovery the answer? Abosultely not! It is time for America to reject these false reforms and find better models. But religious organizations and conservative corporatists are working overtime to get the billions of dollars in public education funds into the market place. ( Just like social security, the prison system, and why they fight universal health care so much).
The fallacy about choice and vouchers fits well into this argument as the government labels public schools "failing" but doesn't even evaluate private schools. Evangelical groups like this scenario because it gives them hope that they can either infiltrate their religious views into the "failing" school, or they can get funding out of public schools and into their own private institutions.
The really wealthy who send their kids to elite private schools support this because it widens the gap between the education level of the rich and the education level of the working class. How, you ask? Simple. These elite private schools, as well as the religious private schools, will likely have no accountability to the states and as such will not have to implement the one-size-fits-all model. This will make private schools a very attractive option for any parent with a large band account who cares about a real education.
Alas, private schools by definiton can be quite selective. If this scenario develops, and it already is, I see a stratified national (not just public) school system where poor families, families with students who have learning disabilities, families that don't understand there even is a problem with standards-driven schools, anyone who is connected to discipline issues (unless they really have the funding to buy their way in): all these will be left to fill a failing public school system that has suffered a funding drain to accompany the brain drain.
And our young people will find themselves divided into three classes:
1) The wealthy elite and a few scholarship kids will get a solid education that will prepare them for an ever decreasing number of elite positions in the marketplace.
2) Students at religious schools who will think they are getting a good education but will be indoctrinated into pseudoscience and pseudothinking. As they become even more empowered and more close-minded they will become a large segment of pseudoeducated voters. This is already happening.
3) The rest of the population who will be schooled in a very narrow set of the "basics" or the "3R's" so that they will be comfortable accepting the low wage, not particularly upwardly mobile positions that corporate America needs to fill.
It sounds like I am talking conspiracy here. Sound crazy? It does even to me. I do think it is a combination of well-funded scheming--consider Jeb Bush--and opportunistic religious movers and shakers--consider the recent Louisiana State decision on vouchers.