"Without social activism that will confront and change the economic system that has generated one educational reform charade after another," argues Gerald Coles, "continued generations of poor children will be doomed to wretched adulthood."
That economic system, one that pervades every aspect of American culture including our foundational democratic institutions such as universal public education, is best described as corporate consumerism—although the most fervent proponent of that corporate consumerism (the winners) have successfully masked that culture as "the free market."
"Free" is far more compelling than "consuming" for Americans, but without a doubt, we are
