WBUR Learning Lab’s Peter Balanon-Rosen came to hear Jonathan Kozol at CPS’s event May 6 and has four takeaways, including this:
As more schools are partnered with business-minded organizations, Kozol has seen a shift that he called his “ultimate concern”: Increasingly business CEOs are invited to participate in policy making for public schools, especially schools with black and Latino students.
He claimed the aims of school education is no longer cultural, intellectual or community-oriented. Instead, Kozol said, education is used simply to prepare minds for markets.
As he spoke about the shifts that he says reflect business influences in education — the change from the term “principal” to “building CEO” in many schools; tightly timed lesson plans that align with mandated outcomes; the free market nature of increased competition, instead of collaboration, between schools to produce best student results; and more public schools being run by private organizations — teachers in the crowd voiced their approval.
Kozol pointed toward charter operators, business tycoons and bankers as people in more control of public education than ever before.
“Instead of ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ ” Kozol said, “this is Wall Street occupying the mentality of children.” Click here for the whole story.