Press Release 527

 

AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

 

PRESS RELEASE 527#

 

PUBLIC EDUCATION: A REALITY CHECK BACKWARDS

 

PRIVATIZATION A CRUEL HOAX WITH ‘REFORMERS’AIMING TO DESTROY

 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

 

A broad historical perspective on public education reveals that it is a democratic ‘experiment’ with a comparatively short life of less than two centuries.

 

Supporters of public education believe it is the right of a child to have an education.

Supporters of religious or private education see it as either a right for the wealthy, a charity for deserving poor, or a commodity to be bought. 

In our past religious men tended to hold a monopoly on the development of the minds of children – or their relegation to a life of drudgery.

As our democracy becomes the plaything of corporate plutocrats it has become a mere commodity, a money making exercise for profiteers– at public expense.

Public education is under attack from past providers

Supporters of public education need to take a reality check and realise that our precious, relatively young educational experiment is in great danger of being relegated to history in favour of  denominational, market based, selective schooling. This happened in Southern Ireland in the 1890s. It could happen to Australia in the 21st century. 

On her September 15 blog, Diane Ravitch, from the USA calls the bluff of the so-called ‘reformers’ of public education. They are nothing more or less than ‘deformers’.

She writes:

Our public schools aren't in decline. And "reformers" with wild promises don't care about education — just profits

See http://www.salon.com/2013/09/15/diane_ravitch_school_privatization_is_a_....

 

 

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