Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch call public schools a government monopoly. Consider the irony.

[madfloridian]

Just think about it. Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch have had the nerve to use the talking point sent out by the DLC in 2007.....that public schools are a monopoly of the government. I don't know who thought that up, but it is not a very smart argument. It's propaganda.

What is so frustrating is that Arne Duncan has in effect turned policy over to Bill Gates and other billionaires. They have taken full advantage of that power.

Gates admits all his billions have not brought about much improvement. In fact after recently using the "monopoly" talking point again, Gates talked about his preference for private schools. He actually says the politics are too tough right now to get vouchers done for those schools.

Bill Gates has the blues.


Pic courtesy of Schooling in the Ownership Society

In the interview, Gates admits that the investment he and other power philanthropists have made in corporate-style school reform, "hasn't led to significant improvements."

Actually, one of those reforms was showing significant improvement until Gates began investing in it. Gates money turned a promising small-schools movement into a charter school privatization initiative. The foundation pulled back on its investment when test scores and college rates failed to increase fast enough for Gates.

..."If Bill had his druthers, he would favor privatization and charters, but he's afraid of even more resistance -- some innovator!

He praises the private school model for its efficiency vis-à-vis traditional public schools, noting that the "parochial school system, per dollar spent, is an excellent school system." But the politics, he says, are just too tough right now. "We haven't chosen to get behind (vouchers) in a big way, as we have with personnel systems or charters, because the negativity about them is very, very high."

Last year Rupert Murdoch said the same thing about the public school monopoly.

Murdoch...Public ed is a "near monopoly"


Pic courtesy or Schooling in the Ownership Society

Last year, Rupert Murdoch, owner of the world's second largest communications conglomerate, went on a tirade against U.S. public education, calling it a "near monopoly." It wasn't clear if Rupert meant that as a compliment or criticism for only achieving near status.

Murdoch has also referred to public schools as "failure factories." He sounds an awful lot like Bill Gates or Arne Duncan who often refers to inner-city high schools as "dropout factories".

The days of America as the unrivaled world leader in public education seem to be gone, Murdoch said. He called the existing system a “near-monopoly” and said teachers aren’t being hired and fired based on performance. “We have tougher standards on ‘American Idol,’” the singing-competition TV show on his Fox network, he said.--

These are two of the "reformers" who are being given almost total access to our public school system. Arne Duncan, speaking for the policies of President Obama, is giving them power.

Where did they get this idea that public schools are a "monopoly"? Glad you asked. From 2007 here are the words of the DLC about that "monopoly."

DLC refers to public school system..."monopoly power of failed traditional schools"

Wow, that should have been enough to make us alert right there.

The Memo refers to the Supreme Decision this week to tout NCLB and make public schools sound inferior:

"We understand the frustrations of many parents and educators with the No Child Left Behind initiative as currently constituted, and as so often underfunded and ill-directed by the Bush administration. But it has done some good, as a recent study by the Center on Education Policy demonstrated. More importantly, its basic concepts, including investments matched with accountability, and the ability to create new public charter schools to challenge the monopoly power of failed traditional schools, remain critical to any successful national narrowing of the achievement gap, and to the dream of educational equality embraced in Brown v. Board of Education."

Failed traditional schools? That started in the 80s with Reagan's Nation at Risk. It was a defective report, but no media ever reported that at all.

The criticism of the failing teachers and failing schools stuck like glue, and all that was needed was a Democratic administration 3 decades later to put everything in place for the reformers.

[MichiganVote]

1. K&R

[gratuitous]

2. Yes . . . a monopoly

Subject to the whims of local school boards all over the country, with varying degrees of members who know what the hell they're talking about. Not to mention the federal funding that is contingent on ratting out the students to the military. And the unstable hodgepodge of funding mechanisms that make long-range planning all but impossible. A "monopoly," right.

How did these fucknuts get money in the first place?

[Divine Discontent]

17. that last line is so true....

[CarmanK]

3. GATES should save his opinions to SOFTWARe and charity.

He knows nothing about the true value of public education. It is a govt monopoly, because the PRIVATE SCHOOLS have not been able to afford or to take on ALL TYPES of children from all economic spectrum. Parochial schools were good, but they had a bunch of nuns who worked for Poverty wages. That kind of dedication is not widespread in the PRIVATE EDUCATION REALM. PRIVATE EDUCATION IS EXPENSIVE. And it is not available to all. The private schools do not have to take on problems students. There is room for private education in the US. But, for-profit education is an illusion. Already, we know that private colleges are bilking students on tuition costs and their degrees are worthless in the work place. Public schools' systems are tough to maintain, because teachers have to be paid a living wage and millions are needed for infrastructure. I thought Michelle Rhee would be good for public education, but she actually, tore it down instead of building it up. And now she is in FL doing additional damage to the public school system. We have 300 mn people in this nation. Jefferson said public education was necessary to sustain this democracy. We have to understand that privatization where tried has consistently failed to produce. Whether Charter schools, private prisons, private soldiers, private colleges, their successes have been bloated and their failures have been very costly to american taxpayers. PRIVATIZATION has it place in capitalism. But the US has 300 mn people and the Responsibility to EDUCATE and to DEFEND is that of society, not individual profiteers.

[Leopolds Ghost]

4. Yeah, we all know what a great software designer he is. Don't forget Encom from TRON is based on MS

And how Microsoft carefully purchased or stole all the innovations needed to build DOS and Windows from competitors.

[Old_Ed_inVN]

13. inovation

Both Gates & Jobs on a tour of Xerox saw the windows thingy. The big company thought of it as a minor thing. Gates & Jobs ran with variations of other peoples work & both said, Aint I great or rich.

[cstanleytech]

5. Are they going to attack the government for a monopoly on having an army next?

[Leopolds Ghost]

7. We already got private armies out there, so no :-)

[lonestarlib]

6. This is nothing new. Dick Armey has been saying this for years.

[JEB]

8. Seems like the Pentagon

for the $50 Billion they got in the new Raw Deal could take out such blatant enemies of the USA as Gates and Murdock.

[BattyDem]

9. Well of course they are!

That's why they're called "public" schools - they're funded by the public (through government) for the public. If we follow this ridiculous logic, then we can say corporations have a monopoly on private schools!

[Old_Ed_inVN]

14. Corps.

Are corporations not people also? Should any person dispute $$$$. Please learn that your betters are watching out for you & have your interests at heart. Run to the closest mall & buy the newest in T shirts-- Serfs are cool.

[Lorien]

10. Um, I attended a private school, so how could it be a "monopoly"?

I guess that's why they oppose the public option? Oy.

[JEB]

11. What they meant to say:

"We want all that tax money spent on Public Education to flow instead into our own private empires." Wouldn't we be better off if there was a cap of say $5 Million?

edit to add quotation marks.

[saras]

12. Public schools are a monopoly. The public. No one else has a right to intrude.

OF COURSE education should be public and shared. That's how you make a nation, or a culture. America doesn't need a caste system, therefore we don't need separate castes of schools.

[cali]

15. We've always had separate castes of schools

Choate
Deerfield
Lawrence
Groton

etc, etc

[PufPuf23]

16. I am impressed and amazed about the quality of work you contibut to DU.

Please continue.

[AlbertCat]

18. Well, since schools are mainly for sports, and not math & science...

... who cares?

Remember, art and lit are just luxuries with zero real benefits in the real world. But learn to dunk or pass and you've got it made in the future!!! Right?

[seafan]

19. Wanted to add this information to this thread.

Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp behind aggressive push into 'bold educational reform'


Jeb Bush and Michelle Rhee are heavily pushing Murdoch's agenda, as described in detail in the thread above.




Murdoch's vast and toxic influence must be stopped.

Keep on digging out the truth and reporting it, madfloridian. It's the only way to stop them.

[madfloridian]

20. How did I miss that post? Great one.

I was going to rec it but saw it was archived. Outstanding info.

Sorry I missed it.

:hi:

[seafan]

22. Y'r welcome, mad. Just pooling our info on these nutters.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

23. When you put a bunch of info like that together...

pm me and let me know. I miss a lot of what goes on here things move so fast.

:hi:

[seafan]

24. Glad to, mad.

Back to the mines. :patriot:

[blkmusclmachine]

21. RTTT is the 7th Mountain.

n/t

[Overseas]

25. K&R.

[proverbialwisdom]

26. "When someone says 'it's not about money', it's about money." - H.L. Mencken

I read about Christie's first job out of law school with boss Cerf in an article from the NJ Star Ledger which I am unable to locate. This comes up in a google search and contains even more details. CONFLICT OF INTEREST, anyone?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/18/968055/-Cerfs-Up:-How-Privatization-Will-Wipe-Out-Public-Education-in-New-Jersey-(Part-1)

"When someone says 'it's not about money', it's about money." - H.L. Mencken

Earlier, as the overt push for privatizing New Jersey's public schools was just getting started, I wanted to bring attention to some of the strange theories and characters who were spearheading the effort. I was under the impression that they were promoting a justifiably unpopular vision based on pure conviction and that when confronted by the force of democracy would be defeated. The privatizers claimed it was about the kids and their way was superior to the tried and true system that works in the wealthier parts of the state. I thought this was a genuine contest of ideas.

I was fundamentally wrong. This is not about ideas, this is about money.

That truth was made clear when Christopher Cerf was named acting Education Commissioner. Cerf is, without a doubt, a businessman posing as a public servant. Jack Grubman, a former securities analyst for Salomon Smith Barney commenting on corruption on Wall Street said that “what used to be a conflict of interest has now become a synergy.” In that case, Cerf brings a lot of "synergies" to the position of State Education Commissioner.

Before moving on to Cerf it seems appropriate to explore the interests of the man who appointed him. That man is our duly elected Governor, Christopher "The Bat" Christie.

Christie also has an extensive history with the business of privatizing public education. Despite a recent statement at the American Enterprise Institute where Christie said "I never had a job in Trenton before I became Governor"; he did. Christie was a registered lobbyist in Trenton from 1999-2001. Far from a "Trenton Outsider" Christie was in high demand, he had all the right connections. He was hired by the Securities Industry Association to prevent stocks and bonds from being included in the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, mid-Atlantic Power Supply Association for Enron style energy deregulation and even a little mom and pop outfit known as Edison Schools Inc. for privatizing public schools; That's right folks; Christie was Edison's lobbyist in Trenton.

So you could even say Christie not only definitely "had a job in Trenton before he was Governor"; he had the same job he thinks he has now; privatizing public education to profit his friends.

After Christie, along with a company named Wireless Generation (remember that name), sabotaged New Jersey out of $400 million in order to stick it to the NJEA he needed a fall guy and chose former Education Commissioner Brett Schundler. So now the state was not only out $400 million in desperately needed education funds it was also out an Education Commissioner. What to do? Christie decided to look for talent from his old employer/current campaign donor Edison Schools Inc. and he found a willing former President and Chief Operating Officer of Edison Schools; Christie's old boss Christopher Cerf.

Yes - Christie used to work for Cerf. In 2001 while Christie was Edison’s registered lobbyist, Cerf was Edison’s President and COO.

Oh what tangled webs we weave when we wish to deceive (on a Race to the Top Application). But let's get back to Cerf.

MORE AT LINK.

[Uncle Joe]

27. Murdoch wants to do for schools what he has done for the media, turn them

into propaganda machines giving him and his minions the enhanced ability to brainwash the general populace beginning at an early age at school or home.

Thanks for the thread, madfloridian.

[roxiejules]

28. K&R!

Thanks for another great post.

[roxiejules]

29. Don't miss John Kuhn's speech at SOS March!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x605422

[Rex]

30. Bill Gates failed to make Windows Me and Vista work

and millions of consumers got fucked over as a result. So, we are to trust a man that cannot even get his OWN SHIT right, yet still pushes a broken product onto the market? Yeah, goodluck with that crap!

As for The Rupert...run you fucking criminal! Your son is FUCKED...too bad it wasn't YOU!

[sulphurdunn]

31. Is the Broad Urban Superintendents

Academy accredited? If so, by what accrediting body. If not, how are school districts permitted to hire its graduates? For instance, in Virginia a school superintendent candidate must hold an earned doctorate degree in educational administration or educational leadership from a regionally accredited college or university and have completed five years of educational experience in a public or accredited nonpublic school, two of which must be teaching experience at the preK-12 level and two of which must be in administration/supervision at the preK-12 level.

[Remember Me]

32. A government monopoly is exactly what it should be

That government monopoly -- ensuring that our entire population got a good basic education -- was one of the very key ingredients that went into the United States becoing the greatest nation on earth, for the short while that we were.

I say it should be even MORE of a monopoly. This "local control" shit is for the birds, for the most part. Or at least, we need equal FUNDING everywhere so no child receives a lesser education in lesser facilities because of she lives in a poor neighborhood. And everyone in the nation should have access to the same, standardized BASIC education. Of course, I realize that we need to have better (saner, less ideological and rabid) folks in positioins of authority before I want to see that implemented, but still, I want all our children equally educated.

[Jakes Progress]

33. I have a nephew in a Gates sponsored summer school program.

The kids do three hours a day at computers. Teachers must come in for two hours sometime during the day. Doesn't have to be when kids are there. Teachers don't have to have any expertise in whatever is being taught. The kids in one room might be working on 8 different subjects. Teachers are there to load paper in printer and make sure kids don't break the computers. They don't interact about the lessons. How should a history teacher help a kid with his calculus?

This is what Race to the Top will make of the American Education System. Obama thinks if you are rich, you are smarter than him and others. He must be a very insecure little man.

[Jakes Progress]

34. So we know now that Obama follows the advice of Billionaires over experts.

No wonder he can't fix the economy or the health system if this is what he does with education.

[dtorfleming]

35. Complete Hitpiece on Gates

So first, get serious. There's no way to equate the largest philanthropist in the world with Murdoch.

Why did the author fail to note that Gates has committed $2B in donations to public schools? My son's school recieved $3M in Gates foundation grants this year. This is huge for us and maintains the library, teacher training and several additional teachers.

Why did the author fail to provide any context on Gates statements.

There is an interesting narrative going around that is blaming gates for everything our current public schools are facing due to his "shocking influence". It is not fair, nor balanced. Perhaps the author has something in common with Murdoch.