Stop the corporations. Educate all children.

Latest

pt.2013.09.03_cartoon
 
From the Editors
As schools get ready to open this year, angry and frustrated parents and teachers stormed out of the latest hearings on Chicago’s austerity budget. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) closed 49 elementary schools this year. Then CPS cut the budgets of the remaining schools by $68 million, and then laid off at least 3,000 teachers and support staff. CPS also approved new charter schools and increased funding to charter schools. Corporate charter schools are replacing public schools.
Across America,all of the commonly-owned, public property of the American peopleis being transferred to theprivately-owned, for-profit corporations. One of the last sectors to remainin the public domain is public education. The current privatization of pubic education is rapidly changing that.
Corporations set the guidelines for massive increases in testing, what schools get funding, who teaches and who benefits from elite education. Corporations also determine who is relegated to indoctrination rather than education, and who travels on the school-to-prison pipeline.
Education is the poster child for the merger of the government and the corporations, without any concern for the interests of the people. The “jobless recovery” of the current depression reinforces the fact that the system no longer needs as many educated workers to resupply the labor market. The latest government jobs report shows that in all sections of the labor market, jobs are being replaced by electronics. The corporations are not gong to educate workers they don’t need.
The corporate government is restructuring society to insure profits for the corporations in this era of technological change. For example, American cities go into debt to Wall Street, and rather than refusing to pay legally dubious loans from Wall Street, they further cut working class programs, teacher pensions and privatize.
For funding, school districts rely on the property tax. Wealthy areas can provide more of a funding base. Poorer school districts cannot. No locality can solve this problem on its own. Only national, equitable funding can guarantee equal education for all. As long as the federal government refuses to fund quality education for all, as long as corporations dominate education, we will not be able to shape education in our own interests. Parents know this!
People are beginning to realize that the Chicago experience is not just ignorant policy. Xian Barrett, one of the teachers recently fired, wrote, “This was not those who run the Chicago Public Schools System failing in their mission; it was them succeeding.”
People throughout the country are struggling valiantly to hold their cities responsible for the education of the children. In the long run, for the struggle to be successful, we need to take our country away from the corporations and build a cooperative society. This is not a choice, but a necessity.
The first step is to hold every politician accountable, force each to show where he or she stands on equal funding for all schools and the guarantee of federal resources for a world class education in every neighborhood. Taking over the corporations, making their property public, will give the people the chance to build the education—and the entire new society—that we want and need.

PT Logo collage
+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

‘We Need Urgent Global Climate Action’

Eighty-nine percent of people worldwide want their governments to do more to address the global climate crisis. Conference on tipping points says situation is urgent. Meanwhile U.S. govt does more to boost fossil fuel forms of energy.

May Day 2025: United We Will Win

International Worker’s Day is celebrated on May 1st around the world. Today, the entire U.S. working class, of which immigrants comprise an integral part, is under attack. The defense of immigrants is vital to the defense of the entire working class.

White School Officer Pepper-sprayed and Kneed Black Beaumont, TX Student, Complaint says. Will Feds Act?

A 6-second video, recorded by a teacher and reviewed by the Texas Observer, shows an officer grabbing a student’s hair, kneeing her in the face, and knocking the 100-pound girl on her back.

Pope Francis Dies After Easter Plea to End War in Gaza

"In his final public message, Pope Francis decried the “terrible conflict” in Gaza.

Bring Union Brother Kilmar Home: His Deportation Is an Attack on All of Us

The deportation of union brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a gut punch to the labor movement, a slap in the face to every worker who dares to organize.

More from the People's Tribune