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It’s okay for commodities and things that are nonessential
to life be provided by for-profit corporations. But a life necessity, such as K-through-12
public education, should not be up
for sale. Nevertheless that’s exactly the direction public education is
heading.
It’s the political right that’s steering us in that
direction. They believe that privatization is the cure-all for all that’s
wrong. They believe that the “invisible hand” of free market profits placed in
the hands of rich people will trickle down and lift the impoverished out of
poverty. They therefore strive to abolish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
public education, and every piece of federal legislation that protects the impoverished,
families, the elderly, and children, and put them in the hands of the private
sector to manage for a profit.
On the other hand, the private sector lobby spends millions
of dollars to support legislation that’s directed at shutting down any
government entity that impedes their profits, or keeps them out of perceived
profitable markets. And they perceive education as a market to exploit for
profit.
With folks like the billionaire Koch brothers, who support
privatization by influencing the political right through political
contributions and lobbying in an effort to influence legislation designed to
maximize privatization, the probability of that happening is very real.
Especially if republican, conservative, and libertarian candidates take over
Congress in the fall. Even with more certainty if the White House falls to a
Republican candidate in 2016.
Lee Fang, over at The Nation, offers
some insight. He writes, “Venture capitalists and for-profit firms are
salivating over the exploding $788.7 billion market in K-12 education,” and “… despite
the opposition of ‘unions, public school bureaucracies, and parents,’ the ‘education
market is ripe for disruption.’”
Copyright © 2014 Horatio Green
