The Trump U. Treatment
First: this is not a defense of Donald Trump or his now infamous Trump University. Trump University was probably a scam (did anyone really think it wasn’t going to be?), and we deserve to know about it.
But hang on a second.
If a fraud like this is concerning enough to make headline news, why isn’t the media reporting on education scams that are happeningeverywhere?
Let’s be real: when it comes to education policy, taxpayers across the country are getting the same treatment Trump University gave its clients, but without the headlines.
Here’s one example:
Trump University used a playbook that encouraged recruiters to play on emotions. (“Don’t ask people what they think about something you’ve said. Instead, always ask them how they feel about it. People buy emotionally and justify it logically.”).
And that, of course, is exactly what the esteemed FrameWorks Institute has more than likely been doing to you.
With sophisticated market research techniques, FrameWorks taps into people’s beliefs about education, then manipulates those feelings in order to get you to accept ideas like Common Core and competency-based education. (When it comes to selling fraudulent ideas, “frames always matter more than facts.”)
It also seems that Trump University taught its recruiters how to exploit aspirations. You know, sort of like the claims we heard about how Common Core would get our kids college and career ready, or how one-to-one iPad initiatives would bring us, at last, into the twenty-first century, or how certain reforms would bring us the jobs we’ve been looking for – like this petition signed by corporate The Trump U. Treatment – Save Maine Schools:
