These days, it’s getting harder to keep up with all the education privatization schemes cropping up with increasing regularity.
Charter schools, vouchers, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), tax credit scholarships, homeschooling, micro-schooling, innovation schools, so-called Alpha Schools—all are part of an extremely chaotic, anarchic, and violent education landscape that degrades education and society on a broad scale. And all are expanding in the name of “school-choice,” “competition,” “innovation,” and the “free market.” In this setup that upholds the buyer-seller dynamic, everyone is a fend-for-yourself “shopper,” not a human with a right to education. If things work out for you, that’s great, but if they don’t, oh well! Better luck next time. Chance, accident, and opportunism are at the center of such an outmoded set-up.
A recent article from the Fordham Institute, “Can charter schools survive universal school choice?” informs us that “There are currently 21 ESA programs across 18 states. The expansion of such programs coincides with a recent uptick in homeschooling and micro-schooling—a trend enhanced by the COVID pandemic.” The Network for Publication Education says that “The privatization of K-12 education has accelerated rapidly. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia now fund one or more private school voucher programs, and nineteen states operate Education Savings Account (ESA) programs — the most expansive and least accountable voucher — allowing families to spend public funds on a wide range of private educational expenses through a dedicated debit card. Ten states have made them available to virtually every family regardless of income or need.” Charter schools operate in 47 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam.
Far from solving any problems, though, school privatization schemes have become synonymous with education wrecking and chaos masquerading as “innovation,” “freedom,” and “what works.” In this context, parents are thrust into an untenable situation where they have to fend for themselves as they “shop” for an education arrangement that “works for them.” All too often, however, many end up in subpar situations, including charter schools that close abruptly.
To be sure, none of today’s education privatization schemes can claim to be excellent, robust, and beneficial. Instead, a hodgepodge of confusing and incoherent “options” exists, marked by poor standards and low quality across the board.
Absurd and exaggerated claims about “school-choice” schemes are made regularly to fool the gullible while huge sums of public funds are pilfered and wasted by the narrow private interests that organize these arrangements. False promises and shallow optimism are pushed constantly to create a misleading narrative about the alleged value of education privatization schemes. But even the mainstream news informs us every day how fraudulent and hollow many of these designs are. Scandal, corruption, and poor performance are pervasive. It is hard to believe that such schemes even exist, let alone receive any legitimacy.
“School-choice” advocates see education as a business, a commodity, a goods-and-services product. They do not see it as an integral part of society and history. They present “school choice” as a “fundamental freedom” and a way to “empower parents.” In this outlook, individuals are reduced to objects and commodities, as nothing more than market actors with market values. This transactional perspective ignores the human factor and fails to recognize that education is a social responsibility, a human right, and a collective effort. It fails to appreciate that education in a modern society must have depth, integrity, planning, conscious organization, and stability so as to ensure proper economic and social development. Education cannot be left to the endless volatility of the “free market.” Such a set-up is inhumane and obsolete.
In this frenzied context, public schools continue to be relentlessly and viciously vilified and assaulted by privatizers of all stripes. Unions, public school boards, teachers, salaries, various public school policies—all are attacked and belittled non-stop. It is as if public schools are worse than the bubonic plague and deserve no recognition, support, or praise whatsoever despite the fact that they educate 88% of the nation’s youth and have been around for 170 years.
This creates the impression that there is nothing positive about public education and that it should be eliminated altogether. Simply obliterate society’s largest institution.
Such an orientation to education is callous, mean-spirited, and punitive. It has little to do with real, substantive objections to this or that problem in education; instead, the goal is to discredit public education at any cost to rapidly promote the privatization of education in the context of a continually failing economy.
The situation in “free market” education has become so irrational that, recently, even major advocates of “school-choice” unwittingly portrayed a situation in “free market” education that makes one wonder whether “free market” education is undermining “free market” education. It appears that a medley of education privatization schemes is stepping on each other’s toes, creating unsuspecting “winners” and “losers.” More education privatization schemes are now competing more directly amid increasing anarchy.
Where do things go from here? What do more education privatization schemes mean for the future of education and society?
To be sure, more education privatization schemes will not solve any problems. No major problems in education have been solved by “school choice” schemes. Parents, policy makers, and others are already overwhelmed and confused by the low-quality arrangements being imposed on them every day. It is becoming harder to navigate so many anti-social schemes that run counter to each other.
In reality, the “free market” is a myth. Oligarchs and monopolies have long dominated and directed both the economy and society. A level playing field and open and fair competition do not exist. In practice, conflicting privatization schemes in education favor the rich and marginalize the polity; they do not serve the public interest.
More failed arrangements, policies, and “choices” will not solve anything. The human factor/social consciousness must be unleashed for society to move forward. Obviously, “school-choice” promoters are not about to scale back their agenda. If anything, things will become more chaotic and violent.
Defenders of public education and the public interest have a heavy responsibility under current conditions. They must vigorously combat all education privatization schemes, and privatization in general. It is critical to put the fight against privatization center stage. Privatization is not some sideshow—”small potatoes”—but rather a major anti-social offensive encompassing many sectors at home and abroad. It has been expanding for 50 years and is wreaking havoc everywhere.