Hucksterism In Education Exposed
I was serving on a panel at an evening event last week about the growth of privatization of education here in Ohio, when someone asked, “Why do parents grab at the chance to send their children to these schools? Most of them don’t do nearly as well academically as public schools.”
People speculated about the lure of the freedom to choose and the conversation wandered a bit. But finally came a comment that stopped many of us: “Public schools can’t advertise, but all the voucher and charter schools advertise all the time, especially the cyber charters—Ohio Virtual Academy (K12) and the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow.”
Hucksterism in education is the subject of a new piece by Ruth Conniff: The Sharks are Circling Our Public Schools. Ruth Conniff is the editor of The Progressive, a journal that champions the public good including a current project known as Public School Shakedown. The Progressive has recently merged with the Center for Media and Democracy which has persistently exposed the far right attack on the public good, including ALEC Exposed.
Conniff describes robocalls promoting Wisconsin vouchers. A woman’s voice describes, “free tuition to send your child to a private or religious school.” “We at School Choice Wisconsin are proud to pay for this call, because we want the very best for you and your child.” The calls, writes Conniff, are coming in the midst of the application process for Wisconsin’s new Hucksterism In Education Exposed | janresseger: