School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy : : How Market-Based Education Reform Fails Our Communities / / Robert Asen.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2021 English
• VerfasserIn: Asen, Robert,
• Place / Publishing House: University Park, PA : : Penn State University Press, , [2021]; ©2021
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation ; 26
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (248 p.)

Evidence shows that the increasing privatization of K–12 education siphons resources away from public schools, resulting in poorer learning conditions, underpaid teachers, and greater inequality. But, as Robert Asen reveals here, the damage that market-based education reform inflicts on society runs much deeper. At their core, these efforts are antidemocratic.Arguing that democratic communities and public education need one another, Asen examines the theory driving privatization, popularized in the neoliberalism of Milton and Rose Friedman, as well as the case for school choice promoted by former secretary of education Betsy DeVos and the controversial voucher program of former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. What Asen finds is that a market-based approach holds not just a different view of distributing education but a different vision of society. When the values of the market—choice, competition, and self-interest—shape national education, that policy produces individuals, Asen contends, with no connections to community and no obligations to one another. The result is a society at odds with democracy.Probing and thought-provoking, School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy features interviews with local, on-the-ground advocates for public education and offers a countering vision of democratic education—one oriented toward civic relationships, community, and equality. This book is essential reading for policymakers, advocates of public education, citizens, and researchers.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Competing Discourses and Contrasting Visions of Education -- 1 Democracy as a Way of Life: John Dewey’s Vision for Individuals and Their Relationships -- 2 Markets as a Way of Life: The Friedmans’ Vision for Individuals and Their Relationships -- 3 Competition and Innovation in the Education Industry: Betsy DeVos’s Campaign for School Choice -- 4 Growing Markets, Diminishing Democracy: The Statewide Expansion of Vouchers in Wisconsin -- 5 Connecting Schools and Communities: Local Advocacy for Public Education -- Conclusion: Means, Ends, and Public Education -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index