The Truth about StudentsFirst and Why It Matters
Living as I do in Cleveland, Ohio, I remember not long ago when the names of companies told you just what they made: Republic Steel, Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Cleveland Twist Drill, and Timken Roller Bearing. I suspect we are the town whose public utility has the most delightful and perfectly accurate name: Cleveland Electric Illuminating. When trees fall on the power lines here in Cleveland, the Illuminating Company comes to get the lights back on.
Nowadays however, company names no longer tell you very much: Halliburton, Archer Daniels Midland, Enron. What does the firm do? Does it make something? If so, who does the work? Does it happen in the U.S. or someplace else? Does the company pay the workers enough? Does it protect them from injuries and toxins? Does it protect the environment? Does it pay enough taxes? Any taxes? Names no longer tell us much, and we aren’t encouraged to ask questions.
Just last week at two social events I found myself in the uncomfortable situation of having to explain how an organization’s name may not really be designed to tell the truth about what the organization does. This time the issue of the name related to a not-for-profit advocacy organization instead of a company. In both instances well-meaning people brought me the same flyer advertising the local screening of a movie. The flyer which depicted cheerful young children was designed in appealing primary colors. At the bottom appeared the logo of the sponsoring organization, StudentsFirst. The flyer provided no information about StudentsFirst, and those who had picked up the flyer—one at a bus stop and the other in a coffee shop— thought it must be a local group, maybe some kind of PTA. These people
porcupine backs into a cactus -
Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers
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| porcupine backs into a cactus |
Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER
Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers
Just Like Michelle Rhee's
Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)