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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

TCEP and Cultural Studies in Education Distinguished Lecture

SAVE THE DATE

TCEP and Cultural Studies in Education Distinguished Lecture

March 10, 2016, 5:30-7:00PM
The George I. Sánchez Building
Cissy McDaniel Parker Dean’s
Conference Room (SZB 238)
University of Texas at Austin

 
The End of Public Schools?: The Corporatization of Public Education
 
Over the last several decades the making of educational policy has been hijacked by unelected and unaccountable individuals and organizations that advance a corporate reform model based on a neoliberal philosophy emphasizing markets, privatization, individualism, and competition. Hursh provides evidence for the corporate takeover in the form of increasing influence of philanthropists, nongovernmental organizations, hedge fund managers, and corporations. As exemplars, he focuses on the influence of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Foundation’s satellite nongovernmental organizations, Teach for America, and Pearson Education. He suggests that these organizations have gained control over policy making through the formation of tight networks in which neoliberal organizations cooperate in funding and promoting desired reforms.  Because these organizations work through one another often outside of the traditional political process, their efforts are often hidden from the public. In response, Hursh calls for a concerted effort to uncover and document the influence of neoliberal organizations, and the harmful effect their policies have on education, including the teaching profession and student learning. He ends  on an optimistic note by citing evidence of the growing resistance in New York among parents, students, teachers, and community members.

 

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