How to Destroy Public Education — Lesson One
The Soft Boys – “I Wanna Destroy You” (click to listen or download)
One of the tactics employed by the enemies of public education is to undermine confidence in our schools in order to weaken financial and other support and induce parents to look for non public options. Some do this by pointing to real failures — like the achievement gaps between minority/non minority and poor/non poor students – and offering simplistic free market solutions (more on this approach in relation to the Madison Prep proposal very soon in a couple of posts I’m working on).
The Bradley, Gates, Walton….funded Fordham Institute puts a new twist on this strategy. In a new report and the accompanying press materials they attempt to create a panic around research showing that our schools are doing exactly