I can't take any credit at all for predicting this stuff, because anyone with a brain can look down the road and see what's coming. However, those who've read The Blue Pimpernel are aware that the school system is privatized, although the private company runs the schools out of the former, state-owned building. I don't go too in depth into how the system works; mostly because it's not entirely relevant and partially because I still want stories like this to echo it.
Ever since the idiots in Michigan voted Snyder into office, shit has only gotten worse. Snyder is a corporate crony; what can you expect from someone who takes his marching orders from the Koch brothers, in much the same way that Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin and future convict (I'm being optimistic, I know), is. Snyder, however, has succeeded in undermining democracy far more successfully than anything Walker has been able to push through. Case in point is his Emergency Manager law; which basically allows the governor to appoint someone to come in and do whatever is necessary to fix local debts.
I can smell the democracy. Can you? I know King Snyder can. With this law, he can appoint any criminal, corporate capitalist* scumbag to come in and undermine the democratic elected process - and he was elected by the same people who whine, moan, and shove an oversized suppository of indignation up their ass over "how we should vote on the rights of minorities". This law has been in place for several years now; I want to say it's been in place for about three years. This story, however, is more recent: it shows exactly what happens when you let capitalist shitheads run things: Muskegon Heights has their entire school district on the chopping block.
Donald Weatherspoon is the EM for Muskegon Heights. So of course he has the utmost confidence. He's probably getting kick backs from the charter schools in the same way that the privatized jails are giving kickbacks to judges to sentence more people to jail so they can make more money? Ethics? Don't make me laugh. "Ethical" to these people is robbing old ladies with Alzheimer's and then justifying it because they have Alzheimer's and won't remember that they had it.
It should surprise nobody that I am a staunch opponent of privatized schools and charter schools. A strong public school system is the weather-vein to a strong nation; public schools are a microcosm to the society. How well the public schools do is a marker to how well the nation and the society is doing. What happens when you get rid of it?
While it can never truly be equal along class lines, the less disparity between groups and schools there are, the healthier the society. The teachers have all had their union contracts closed off, and they've been laid off and will have to approach the charter school that's going to replace this school district. Did we elect this man? Did we give him permission to do this? No. He was appointed. How is this democracy? How is this American? I'll give you a simple answer; it's not democracy, but it sure as fuck is 110%, red-blooded American.
The United States was never a true democracy. Not because it's a "republic" - like the popular but wrong-headed meme - but because the government has been bought and paid for, for the last few generations, by wealthy oligarchs. This is what the world is coming too. Dismantling a public school system, one of the last few bastions of an attempt at equality, in a blatant display of poor hatred.
I so angry right now I can barely stand it. This isn't unfair to the people of Muskegon Heights - especially those whose children could never get accepted into charter schools and can't afford to send their children out of the district for whatever reason (their child has bipolar or depression and acted up in the classroom and got in trouble, for instance, for got tried of being bullied and got into a fight). To suggest this is unfair suggests there's a fair alternative in system. Right now, there isn't. Not in this system.
* I use V.I. Lenin's definition of capitalism; that is, the default state of capitalism is the monopoly. This is the end result no matter how hard you try to avoid it. To wit, I support a mixed-state with microcapitalism; that is, small businesses. I do not support corporations or corporate entities and believe that most production should occur on a local level and that commodities and such should be the property and the job of the state to handle. I'm actually an anarcho-communist at heart, but in practice I'm something much closer to a socialist.
Ever since the idiots in Michigan voted Snyder into office, shit has only gotten worse. Snyder is a corporate crony; what can you expect from someone who takes his marching orders from the Koch brothers, in much the same way that Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin and future convict (I'm being optimistic, I know), is. Snyder, however, has succeeded in undermining democracy far more successfully than anything Walker has been able to push through. Case in point is his Emergency Manager law; which basically allows the governor to appoint someone to come in and do whatever is necessary to fix local debts.
I can smell the democracy. Can you? I know King Snyder can. With this law, he can appoint any criminal, corporate capitalist* scumbag to come in and undermine the democratic elected process - and he was elected by the same people who whine, moan, and shove an oversized suppository of indignation up their ass over "how we should vote on the rights of minorities". This law has been in place for several years now; I want to say it's been in place for about three years. This story, however, is more recent: it shows exactly what happens when you let capitalist shitheads run things: Muskegon Heights has their entire school district on the chopping block.
MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI -- In a groundbreaking move, the emergency manager for Muskegon Heights Public Schools is proposing to turn the entire school system into a charter school.
Donald Weatherspoon said today he will submit a plan to state officials calling for the creation of a new K-12 charter system. The district's debt, estimated at $12.4 million, will remain with the current public school district, giving the charter operator a fresh start, he said.
"I have the utmost confidence it is the best alternative," Weatherspoon said today.
Donald Weatherspoon is the EM for Muskegon Heights. So of course he has the utmost confidence. He's probably getting kick backs from the charter schools in the same way that the privatized jails are giving kickbacks to judges to sentence more people to jail so they can make more money? Ethics? Don't make me laugh. "Ethical" to these people is robbing old ladies with Alzheimer's and then justifying it because they have Alzheimer's and won't remember that they had it.
It should surprise nobody that I am a staunch opponent of privatized schools and charter schools. A strong public school system is the weather-vein to a strong nation; public schools are a microcosm to the society. How well the public schools do is a marker to how well the nation and the society is doing. What happens when you get rid of it?
While it can never truly be equal along class lines, the less disparity between groups and schools there are, the healthier the society. The teachers have all had their union contracts closed off, and they've been laid off and will have to approach the charter school that's going to replace this school district. Did we elect this man? Did we give him permission to do this? No. He was appointed. How is this democracy? How is this American? I'll give you a simple answer; it's not democracy, but it sure as fuck is 110%, red-blooded American.
The United States was never a true democracy. Not because it's a "republic" - like the popular but wrong-headed meme - but because the government has been bought and paid for, for the last few generations, by wealthy oligarchs. This is what the world is coming too. Dismantling a public school system, one of the last few bastions of an attempt at equality, in a blatant display of poor hatred.
I so angry right now I can barely stand it. This isn't unfair to the people of Muskegon Heights - especially those whose children could never get accepted into charter schools and can't afford to send their children out of the district for whatever reason (their child has bipolar or depression and acted up in the classroom and got in trouble, for instance, for got tried of being bullied and got into a fight). To suggest this is unfair suggests there's a fair alternative in system. Right now, there isn't. Not in this system.
* I use V.I. Lenin's definition of capitalism; that is, the default state of capitalism is the monopoly. This is the end result no matter how hard you try to avoid it. To wit, I support a mixed-state with microcapitalism; that is, small businesses. I do not support corporations or corporate entities and believe that most production should occur on a local level and that commodities and such should be the property and the job of the state to handle. I'm actually an anarcho-communist at heart, but in practice I'm something much closer to a socialist.
"I support a mixed-state with microcapitalism"
ReplyDeleteI agree 100 percent. Let Jimmy the table maker do his thing, and Suzy the egg farmer too. The government should sell power and provide schools and hospitals and roads and police.