Who Controls American Education?

Who controls American education?

This is an important question posed by Joel Spring, author of the book American Education. In Chapter 8, “Local Control, Choice, Charter Schools, and Homeschooling”, Spring examines the variety of ways that people attempt to control the education of our youth. School choice is a major topic of conversation, particularly since the implementation of Common Core Standards. Proponents of school choice argue that, based on free-market economics, when parents have a choice of schools, the schools will need to improve in order to be more competitive. “Many supporters of religious schooling and free-market advocates support the public-private model of choice” (225). This is shown in the increase of private religious schools over the past hundred and fifty years. The public-private model proves popular due to government support to those who choose religious institutions. The following video illustrates some of the differences between public and private schools. Although there are clear stereotypes in the video, it does acknowledge the impact that economic status and race has on who goes to which schools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmvbSoO0Qq4

Further in the chapter, Spring asks “are charter schools creating a new form of racial and economic segregation?” (234). Charter schools are considered public, but like private schools are free from state and local management rules. They are free to attend but often enroll based on a lottery due to high application rates. This creates competition that, according to free-market economics, should make for more successful students. In a study of charter schools, it was found that the most successful charter school, Peak to Peak Charter School, is majority white, upper class.  Another system of charter schools, the KIPP Academies, is 88% low-income and 95% black or latino. These differences are highlighted in the curricula of each school. While the elite school focuses on liberal arts education, KIPP Academies spends time on the character of each student. This “reflects a belief that low-income students lack character traits needed to be successful in school and in the world” (234). Jean Anyon’s study of “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” argued that many public schools prepare students for careers based on their socioeconomic status, and these charter schools do not seem to be much different.

In the article “Race, Charter Schools, and Conscious Capitalism: On the Spatial Politics

of Whiteness as Property (and the Unconscionable Assault on Black New Orleans)” Kristen Buras examines the impact of school reconstruction in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. This article provides a real world answer to Spring’s question. Much of the research is shocking. From the beginning, it is made clear that “New Orleans charter schools are less about responding to the needs of racially oppressed communities and more about the Reconstruction of a newly governed South—one in which white entrepreneurs (and black allies) capitalize on black schools and neighborhoods by obtaining public monies to build and manage charter schools” (297). This push towards a fully- chartered system is, in essence, social engineering to create a place that is “smaller with fewer poor people” (307).

The first step to creating this elitist model of schooling was to adjust the law to give the state power to redefine the parameters of a failing school. This allowed reformers to basically take over schools as they decided, “revealing the indeterminate nature of the law and its malleability in serving dominant interests” (308). As we have seen throughout history, white people in charge like to have control over the categories they put people in when it serves their own interests, and this case is no different.

With this reformation came the disenfranchisement of veteran teachers. The Aspen Institute, headed by businessman Walter Isaacson, operates under the opinion that school sustainability depends on cost issues associated with teachers, as the older teachers ‘cost’ more money. Their opinion is that teaching should be done by young people who don’t want to teach forever, which alleviates pension-related costs. The Aspen Institute’s input on the New Orleans school reformation contributed to the displacement of black teachers who made up a large portion of the middle class. This is clearly racially motivated and an egregious abuse of power.

As the article goes on to discuss, many of the people and organizations involved in the school reformation do not have any personal stake in the success of the schools. They are involved purely from a business standpoint, treating students and teachers as capital. The Cowen Institute at Tulane University houses several organizations that are involved in creating, staffing, and managing charter schools. These groups pull resources from outside of the city rather than involving those who live there. They exclude African American residents from decision making while solving problems that the state actually created for them. For example, despite the fact that the Lower 9th Ward is in need of a high school, the money they need will go into a general fund to be used at the discretion of the Recovery School District. It is in this way, among others, that reformation efforts will continue to foster racial-spatial inequality in the city.

What this whole article shows is that state and federal control by the elite ignores the needs of those on the ground. The capitalist takeover of a school district for segregational purposes harms the residents who need the most assistance in the wake of tragedy. Though this is just one example, people need to be made aware of the issue so that it doesn’t happen elsewhere in a country that seems to have no idea who should control education.