[WSMDiscuss] Beware! Cuomo Adds Another Billionaire to "Reimagine" Post-Pandemic Public Education
Estelle Fein
leef at cruzio.com
Mon May 18 01:32:10 CEST 2020
Thank you, Matt and Jai, for such intelligent responses to what is surely much needed examination of the future of public education in the USA
In fact, the issue of privatization of our schools is an old issue
In 1993-I think that was the year-that Gary Hart introduced legislation to create charter schools to fend off the voucher movement which would have given public $$ to families for any private school — including religious schools—that they chose for their kids
The charter schools were a huge success. They were free of a lot of red tape, had their own boards of directors, could decide their own curricula, curriculum that was relevant to the communities that they served
This was education made in heaven and for a long time, maybe 10 years, all sorts of innovative education appeared.
Naturally, by and by, abuses began to appear
And that would be a very long conversation, about how and why
But the reason I am saying all this is because there was, and is, a model of education reform that works
Kids, parents, teachers, and administrators are happy because they control how things go
Matt—- are you well acquainted with the Charter Schools in Minnesota and California of the 90s
If yes, I would love to have a conversation with you about their history, their acceptance, but mostly their trouble and rejection by the traditional public schools
Sent from my iPad
>> On May 15, 2020, at 11:04 PM, Matt Meyer via WSM-Discuss <wsm-discuss at lists.openspaceforum.net> wrote:
>
> Dear comrades:
>
> As a life-long internationalist now tasked with heading up the truly world-wide network of "peace studies" scholars, researchers, practitioners and students - but also as someone professionally based in New York City for many decades - i must add my "two cents" here:
>
> There is ABSOLUTELY NO "new way to go forward— a way that combines, and funds, the best practices of traditional education and the new realities of technology in education" which the current pandemic or post-pandemic vision which NYS Governor Cuomo wants us to imagine...which has not already widely been envisioned and begun to be put into use, for quite some time in innovative schools across the City, State and elsewhere. This is in no way to denigrate and in fact instead to thank our dear Estelle Fein, who brought us this important new piece by Diane Ravitch. It is simply to sharpen our discussion and add FYI: I was one of quite a good number (including Diane's life partner and an old mentor/friend of mine, Mary Butz) who took part in a near-thirty-year experiment, creating literally hundreds of "alternative schools" in what became by far the largest publicly- funded experiment in innovative, technologically relevant, community-centered, multicultural and critically oriented education in US history. Though it has rarely been documented, i am intimately involved in working to get that story, and the story of its destruction, out there into the world.
>
> Second, our dear Jai adds that because of the fear that "where if New York falls, so will many other jurisdictions…and so...this move needs to be opposed tooth and nail." The problem here, quite sadly, is that "this move" has been at the centerpiece of US educational "reform" for well over a decade now, has had significant fight-back...with most of that fight-back fully lost. The entirely of the 12 years of the NYC Mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg was about exactly what Jai writes of: making the NYC K-12 school system, with the City University and State University systems not far behind, a national model of privatization, top-down administrative and curricular mandates, and the use of computerized programs and the web NOT to teach young folks the tools of a new century but rather to compartmentalize, monitor and control the work of educators, especially enlightened and potentially rebellious ones. Today, Cuomo appears as a national hero in the US (for one thing, despite MANY flaws as a poster-boy of the last gasps of neo-liberal US imperialism, it is hard not to credit Cuomo with actually saving some NYS lives AND for another, it is not too difficult to look like a hero in the US today given what the rest of "our" national leadership looks like!). In this instance, as Diane's article points out, the current crisis is being used as a fantastic opportunity to fast-track a part of the agenda which a "bipartisan" arena of folks, led by Bill Gates and many others, have been pushing for and implementing for many years. There is not that much "new money" to be made within an empire in decline...but the US cash spent annually on public education - well into the trillions of dollars - is a final frontier of capital to be plundered by private companies and fully enclosed in newly-privatized "local" structures.
>
> I wish that the possibilities for future education within the US context was better...just as i wish the same for politics and economics. And it is true that the current crisis could lead to a level of rebellion unlike anything we've seen in our lifetimes. But that is what it will take to turn around the educational and other crisis...not a slightly better NYS team advising Cuomo. We love, need and appreciate Diane for exposing every indiscretion and egregious error...but we must understand that our movements, in these cases, require much more than simple reform.
>
> All the best,
> MattM
> Matt Meyer
> Secretary-General,
> International Peace Research Association;
> IPRA United Nations Main Representative (NGO/ECOSOC)
> Chair, International Fellowship of Reconciliation Financial Advisory Committee
>
> War Resisters International
> Africa Support Network Coordinator
>
> PM Press, Africa World Press author and editor
>
> Senior Research Scholar, University of Massachusetts/Amherst Resistance Studies Initiative, umass.edu/resistancestudies/node/799
>
>
>> On Fri, May 15, 2020 at 3:57 PM Jai Sen <jai.sen at cacim.net> wrote:
>> Friday, May 15, 2020
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Estelle
>>
>> Thanks very much for this post, and – as an educator of long experience - for pointing out what you have, that
>>
>> … educators must take into account the actual value of online learning
>> We need a new paradigm for education
>> We need to imagine a new way to go forward — a way that combines, and funds, the best practices of traditional education and the new realities of technology in education
>>
>> All this rings true – but the problem surely is also of Cuomo – or anyone - handing ‘Education’ over on a platter, lock, stock, and barrel, to big business (and not just to ‘big’ business but to the biggest...), and where educators, families, and society at large have no say at all ?
>>
>> So yes, educators, must take into account the value of online learning – but they must remain in the saddle, not big business. Surely you would agree ? Because what Cuomo is doing here is not just about education; it’s something much, much bigger… and is horrendous. And he’s doing this at this point in history not out of ignorance, but as a member of that class, that can collectively see the huge chance that is there… And where if New York falls, so will many other jurisdictions…
>>
>> And so where while I see your point, I still think that this move needs to be opposed tooth and nail… and so where yes, families and educators should then pay attention to what you have said. But the first thing is to remain in control. Let’s not miss this the wood for the trees.
>>
>> Jai
>>
>>
>>> On May 15, 2020, at 11:51 AM, Estelle Fein <leef at cruzio.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Everything that Diane says is true
>>> But educators must take into account the actual value of online learning
>>>
>>> We need a new paradigm for education
>>> We need to imagine a new way to go forward — a way that combines, and funds, the best practices of traditional education and the new realities of technology in education
>>>
>>>
>>> Link: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/05/06/beware-cuomo-adds-another-billionaire-reimagine-post-pandemic-public-education?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=email_this
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Shared via Shareaholic
>>>
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>> ________________________________________
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>> ____________________________
>>
>> Jai Sen
>>
>> Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Globalisation Studies at the University of Ottawa
>>
>> jai.sen at cacim.net
>>
>> Now based in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325) and in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded and unsurrendered Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282 2900)
>>
>> CURRENT / RECENT publications :
>>
>> Jai Sen, ed, 2018a – The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our Dance. Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press
>>
>> Jai Sen, ed, 2018b – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ? (Indian edition). New Delhi : AuthorsUpfront, in collaboration with OpenWord and PM Press. Hard copy available at MOM1AmazonIN, MOM1Flipkart, and MOM1AUpFront
>>
>> Jai Sen, ed, 2017 – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ?. New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press. Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press
>>
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