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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Consulting companies the bain of public space, schools...

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Consulting companies the bain of public space, schools...:


Consulting companies the bain of public space, schools...

BSG
Daniel Denvir has a great post over at The Atlantic Cities blog, "As Local Governments Shrink, Private Consultants Reap Rewards."

Denvir describes the trend of supplanting public space and decision making with corporate consulting companies. One of the main proponents of this strategy is Mitt Romney, who started in business with the Boston Consulting Company. After leaving BCG, Mitt Romney went on to work at Bain and Company consultants, from where he launched the controversial private-equity firm Bain Capital. For decades, consulting has been a top choice for MBA graduates like Romney.

In 2010, the Gates Foundation gave 15 cash-desperate states $250,000 to hire consultants to write applications for Obama's Race to the Top competitive education grant. The grants, which encourage districts to tie teacher evaluations to standardized tests and loosen restrictions on charter schools, draws heavily from the corporate-education reform model funded by the big three foundations.

Denver writes,
Consultants, like Romney, have the appeal of "real-world" experience which, in early 21st-century 


Sarah Silverman: Corporations are people

But are people people?


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