Education's 'Sociopathic Indifference'

My realizations working in higher and secondary ed, charter schools, and What I’m Reading.

In this post: I am becoming increasingly convinced that the Civil Rights movement did not have the transformative change that some think it did. Dr. Allison Harbin writes about investing in the complex progression of higher and secondary education since the 1970s.
Next week: A virus just as systemic as endemic has spawned from deregulation in education. Dr. Allison Harbin writes about the Boomers' big idea to deregulate industries and gives her unsolicited opinion about neoliberal bloodlust.
Last week: A virus just as systemic as endemic has spawned from deregulation in education. Dr. Allison Harbin writes about the Boomers' big idea to deregulate industries and gives her unsolicited opinion about neoliberal bloodlust.

Dear friends and fam,

The more invested I become in understanding the complex yet predictable the progression of both higher education and secondary education since the 1970s, the more I become convinced that

1.) The Civil Rights movement did not have the transformative change in systemic racism some think it did. Lawrence Glickman, professor of history at Cornell, writes on this topic for the Atlantic, see: “How White Backlash Controls American Progress.”

2.) Each side, higher ed and secondary ed, of this divided and corrupt world of education should be communicating more with each other. The exact same corruptions and abuses of power are happening in each field of education, so perhaps in investigating them alongside one another, we can limn a better path forward. 

For example, the rise of for-profit colleges that target low-income and minority populations necessarily has to be considered as part and parcel of the charter school movement boom. Why? Because at the end of the day, both of these private ventures into education have a business model that resembles more of a pyramid scheme than anything actually egalitarian. I recently received an email detailing academic abuse of power in science research, in which the emailer told me,

“my mind still reels from witnessing the gross misuse of public funding as well as sociopathic indifference with which harm is cause to other people’s careers and as collateral damage, their families.”

I don’t think I could have put the experience of witnessing professors exploiting younger academics for research and financial gain better myself. I’d know, because I’ve been trying to evoke through words, just what it was like to work at a school that was the literal embodiment of the school-to-prison pipeline where administrators took nice payouts from privately run corporations and, of course, shady real estate deals. Talk about “sociopathic indifference.” (for more about this, see “Is charter school fraud the next Enron?”)

I also spoke with Dr. Nicole Grimes, a former principal from an excellent private school who now runs professional development for teachers, among many other impressive feats she now does full-time (a true Renaissance woman, if you will). We spoke about the challenge of introducing culturally responsive pedagogy (which is Ed-Speak for teaching more diverse authors and histories, especially in minority-majority schools). Within her experience of running a highly functioning private school, teachers were reluctant to diversify their curriculum because they had the attitude of, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

We also spoke about her experience as a highly educated Black principal in a private school comprised of mostly white kids, and how culturally responsive pedagogy works both ways-- both white and POC children alike need to see people such as herself in positions of leadership and power. How else can we expect to start un-learning white supremacy if we are not also teaching our white students about Black excellence? You can find Dr. Grimes on instagram: @dr.nicolegrimes

What I’m Reading:

Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy by Tressie McMillan Cottom, who also happens to be one of my favorite academic cross-over writers (her memoir Thick is absolutely dazzling as well).  In Lower Ed, McMillan Cottom explores the rapid expansion of for-profit colleges through the lens of inequality. In it she notes that,

“whether you are a kindergarten teacher, an admissions counselor, or a college professor, working in education is a lot like being a priest. You shepherd people’s collective faith in themselves and their trust in social institutions.” 

When describing recruiters for a for-profit college, Cottom asserts,

“you’re more like a television evangelist. The faith sounds alike. The dreams are similar. But instead of big-tent revivals that promise strength during difficult times, you sell prayer clothes that promise to solve all of a believer’s problems.”

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From where I’m coming from, she might as well be talking about the myth of school choice and community agency that charter schools have been up-selling since 1995. Sarah Bluver’s article “We Won’t be Fooled Again,” explains the long-con of charter schools well. While this is not the space for a full excoriation of the documentary Waiting for Superman, which catapulted charter schools into a glowing light synonymous with providing equity, I could not help but think of all the lies that documentary so unproblematically sold to its audiences. In the meantime, here’s a HuffPost article that fact-checks the doc. Re-watching it this week not only made me mad all over again, but it also struck me how unproblematically this white savior narrative was swallowed by the public. 

And as always, what I’m left wondering is, how is it that we know exactly what so many problems are in terms of education on all levels, but yet, none of us seems to be willing to engage with the issue long enough to develop sustainable change? 

We’re all ostriches with our heads in the sand, hoping that the devastation wrought upon education won’t hit us. But, the reality is, it most likely already has. 

Until next week, 

A

P.S. sharing is caring, if you like my take, share it with a friend

NSFS: Not Safe for School, your snark-filled antidote to racism and corruption in education. Follow @postphdtheblog on Twitter and @allisonharbin_postphd on Instagram