School choice: Segregation by another name

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

On May 9, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos attended a technology conference in Utah. In and of itself, her attendance was not a very remarkable thing. As education secretary, it makes sense that she would be at this event. But then there’s what she said while she was there: yes, she compared school choice to switching cell phone providers. 

She said there are many great cell phone companies, but people have the option to pick which one they want to use.

“If you can’t get cell phone service in your living room, then your particular provider is failing you, you should have the option to find a network that does work.”

Under normal circumstances, this would be considered the most out-of-touch thing a member of a presidential administration could say. But these are not normal times.

Regardless, this is a statement that shows how unqualified DeVos is to be education secretary. If your cell phone service does not work, you call the cell provider and fix the issue. Maybe there is an issue with the antenna in your phone. It’s possible something in your house or a neighbor’s house may be interfering with your signal. It could be a multitude of other culprits—but a logical reaction would be to try and resolve the issue first, before changing your cell provider. 

If your neighborhood school is not performing well or isn’t meeting the needs of your child, your first course of action is not going to be to pull your child out of school. For one thing: there isn’t another neighborhood school to choose from. So DeVos’ analogy does not work, unless you add that when you change cell phone providers you have to drive across town and send and receive calls from someone else’s living room. 

This is segregation all over again—under a different name, and with different tactics. Those who can afford transportation to other schools will be the ones that use vouchers to attend these private schools. Those who cannot afford transportation will stay at the schools in their neighborhoods. 

-more-

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/5/21/1663442/-School-choice-Segregation-by-another-name#comment_66564869

[Wounded Bear]

1. They want to commoditize and profitize everything...

[shenmue]

2. Yes

[SharonAnn]

3. Yes! There's a large stream of money that goes to schools every year. Crony capitalism at work.

They want to siphon off the money every year, in perpetuity.

And, when they set them up, these schools do not have to follow the same measurement criteria that public schools do.

What a sweet deal! Lots of money and no accountability!

Sounds like a corrupt operation, doesn't it?