Wait... so deregulation isn't the solution?!
Deregulation means that Texas can’t keep the lights on AND that minority students are being denied their right to an equal education.
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: 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.
Dear friends and fam,
As a jaded millennial, this week I’ve enjoyed my avocado toast as I scrolled headlines about how the boomer’s big idea to deregulate industries so that there was absolutely no system of checks and balances, much less a way to enforce accountability was a bad idea?!? You mean, an inept implementation of an already real bad idea spells out disaster?
Well, I’ll be! (as we say in the south). It is quite an experience to watch the tenets of late stage capitalism come home to roost. What a time to be alive.
As a humble art history PhD, I’ll refrain from giving my unsolicited opinion about neoliberal bloodlust (that’s for the book, folks) but I will speak to the cultural-- and societal-- impact of such toxic policies. Suffice it to say, deregulation in education has spawned a virus as systemic as it is endemic: the privatization of public education.
That same idea behind the power grid failure in Texas, was also the one applied to “solve” the problem of “failing” public schools weighted down with that evil socialist bureaucratic bloat and red tape of the dept of ed. Which is to say: charter schools. They receive the state funding of the cost per pupil, and also can receive funding and loans from the federal government, private companies, hedge funds, and real estate development contracts (in fact, if you open a charter in a minority neighborhood, you get even more financial windfalls, so all those boomers who don’t see that neoliberalism is systematized racism are only fooling themselves). The goal is always to scale, in fact, the way a charter school is evaluated is for its capacity to grow. And when you scale, you must always keep your cost small. To stay nimble. So, this comes in the form on hiring predominantly young inexperienced teachers with no experience and often not even a master’s in education (not that ed programs prepare you in anyway, but that’s a whole other conversation). This means you pay them pennies (and get what you pay for imo). This cost savings and its concomitant gross misappropriation of funds, means students are being denied their right to an education and that Texas can’t keep the lights on .
If you are reading this, chances are you are already aware of the problems inherent to academia—the scarcity of tenure-track faculty positions, the adjunct crisis where 75% of college courses are taught by contingent professors despite the horrendous pay and lack of benefits. Yet, as professors retire, their positions are removed and adjuncts step in to handle the workload. At the same time, we are giving more PhDs than ever. So you have a large pool of qualified candidates for a job pool smaller than a thimble.
The outcome of this is a culture where everyone is over-worked and close to burn-out, if they aren’t already there. The same can also be said of teachers. In line with the ample scholars who have come before me on this topic, it is fair to say that competition no longer drives excellence, but rather deters it in a manner not unlike Lord of the Flies.
This is, by any definition, a toxic culture. Or should I say neoliberal culture?
What’s up with Post-PhD:
Wanna hear me talk about data and white supremacy? If you do, I’ll be doing just that at the Shuttleworth Foundation’s FlashForward event Tuesday February 25th at 10:00 am EST. I was awarded a flash grant for my latest project this summer, and here’s what I have to show for it. I’ll also be sharing an excerpt of what I’ve been werkin’ on, if you’re interested in a sneak peek.
What I’m reading:
“Out of Control: a Brief History of Neoliberal Deregulation in the USA” by T. J. Coles does a great job of explaining supply-side policy since the early 1970s up through Trump. It’s a complex and ever-moving target to name, classify, and historicize neoliberalism, and this article manages to give a thorough yet quick synopsis.
“How School Choice Turns Education into a Commodity: Schools are a public good that extreme market proliferation would eventually destroy.” by Jason Blakley for The Atlantic. My only caveat to this article is that I’d say extreme market proliferation has already destroyed public education.
“Charter Schools, Some with Billionaire Benefactors, Tap Coronavirus Relief,” by Erica L Green does a great job of connecting the incentives billionaires and private companies have in so-called “impact investing,” to Coronavirus federal funding. I don’t know about y’all, but I sure am relieved the billionaires get their much deserved tax breaks. I don’t think I could roll my eyes back further into my head.
Valerie Strauss’ answer sheet “Why hedge funds lover charter schools,” is a quick easy read if you’re looking to feel both disgusted and bone-chillingly horrified all at once. As a bonus, it also lays out the financial gains charter school stakeholders have in serving minority populations.
“How investors and developers use properties to cash in on NJ charter school growth,” while specific to a region, this article nonetheless does a great job of explaining how this works in nearly every other state that I’ve researched on charter schools. This is a great read if you didn’t get quite enough of that disgusted- horrified feeling from the above link and want more pain.
On that cheery note, ‘till next week folks. I’ll light a candle for the power to come back on in Texas in the meantime.
A
NSFS: Not Safe for School, your snark-filled antidote to racism and corruption in education. Follow @postphdtheblog on Twitter and @allisonharbin_postphd on Instagram
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