Art Teacher Threatened for Refusing to Force Students to Buy eBooks

After tuition and housing, textbooks are one of the biggest expenses for college students. Even back when I was in college, when tuition at the University of California was a “reasonable” $600 per semester, textbooks still took a serious chunk out of my budget. They were (and still are) large and expensive, especially for the sciences. For many classes, you are expected to buy several books. In some cases, the books are supplemental—not even necessary to succeed in the course.

The current trend toward electronic or digital books (ebooks) has reduced the burden on students’ backs and bookshelves, but not their pocketbooks. Reducing this burden ought to be simple: make the supplementary books optional. However, when Mike Tracy, a teacher at the Art Institute of California-Orange County, refused to make students buy an e-book they didn’t need, he may have jeopardized his job.

The Art Institute is part of a national chain of more than 50 for-profit schools, according to Good Education. Goldman Sachs has a 41% share in the company. Since ebooks are a significant part of the chain’s profit stream, compelling students to purchase as many as possible is in the company’s financial interest. School policy requires students to pay a $50-70 fee to download temporary copies of the books, regardless of whether they purchase a hard copy of the book. According to Tracy, some of these books are completely unnecessary and are required only to increase the school’s profits.

There is a  Change.org petition demanding that the Art Institute of California-Orange County keep Tracy on staff.

Slashing Education is Good for America

Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

Public education always has and continues to be a means of social control, one with the specific function of perpetuating a status quo in which a tiny minority rules over the overwhelming majority in order to sequester increasing amounts of wealth. The hysteria over the deplorable state of our schools is a deliberate deception, as schools never really got worse at this function. They still reproduce a well-educated elite minority and vast numbers of poorly educated, compliant workers with just enough training to run their machines and offices and purchase their goods.

One goal of this deception is to convince the public that it is in their best interests to relinquish local control, and allow private companies to take over and turn a profit. Bill Gates, Arne Duncan, Michael Bloomberg, Broad, Walton, and others promulgate this trickery by repeatedly reminding us about terrible test scores and graduation rates, blaming it on recalcitrant and selfish unions, and promising us perfection if only more charter schools and corporate management were allowed. What’s good for Bill Gates is good for America.

Divide and Conquer

However, the deception is not just about privatization. As more and more tax dollars get diverted to wars, tax cuts and corporate bailouts, there is less available for social services, like education, and there needs to be a scapegoat other than Halliburton, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. As children become more impoverished and consequently do poorer in school, and as schools lose funding and consequently provide fewer services, the schools and teachers (and occasionally the parents) get the blame for low student achievement, rather than the ruling elite who are the real culprits. It is classic divide and conquer: the public continues to support their bosses and the wealthy, some dreaming of joining their ranks, while attacking members of their own class, like teachers and other government workers, under the mistaken perception that they are the ones responsible for their misery. What’s good for Wall Street is good for America.

Downsizing and Streamlining

Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

A more immediate goal of slashing education budgets is to obtain the same productivity from educators for less money, thus freeing up tax dollars for more important needs (like bailouts and tax cuts for the wealthy). The same numbers of children must still be taught. The same delusional outcomes are still required, such as 100% proficiency on NCLB exams by 2014. Yet all this must occur with fewer teachers, custodians, nurses, librarians and money. Worse, those who are lucky enough to still have their jobs are expected to do more despite this reduction in funding. They must do their own jobs, plus those of their former colleagues who were fired, furloughed or not replaced. Additionally, they must work harder and longer to create and implement new programs that are supposed to raise test scores. What’s good for the boss, is good for America.

Business as Usual

The transfer of wealth from the public to the ruling elite (through tax cuts, subsidies and bailouts, all financed by cutting programs that help the poor and working class) should be seen as evidence of the true nature of our economy and the political system that serves it. The interests of banks, speculators and the war machine are far more urgent and necessary than the needs of regular people, especially teachers and students. After all, both parties have supported continued military funding, corporate bailouts and tax cuts for the rich, while allowing or promoting cuts to education, Medicare, food stamps, and social security. The notion of political expediency, the “stalemate” in D.C., the “necessary” compromises that must occur as a “natural” part of our political system, are all cover-ups: the corporate rulers run the show and make the decisions. Politicians who even consider not playing by their rules not only lose their office, they lose all hope of a cushy corporate job after being termed out. Their interests are the same as corporate interests

Wall Street Take Over of Public Schools?

Is Wall Street making a play for our schools?  Check out the following article, Goldman Sees Gold, reposted from Schools Matter, on Goldman Sachs $25 million investment into the formation of 16 new charter schools. This is just the latest in a general trend. Hedge fund managers and Wall Street CEOs have been heavily involved in the charterization of NYC public schools.

PRESS RELEASE
Nov. 9, 2010, 10:28 a.m. EST
LISC, Goldman Sachs Partner on Charter School Financing Facility

NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. today announced the formation of a $25 million charter school facility that will finance the development of approximately 16 charter schools over the next two years.

The Goldman Sachs Charter School Loan Facility will be capitalized by Goldman Sachs and credit-enhanced by funds awarded by the US Department of Education to LISC, which will also manage the facility and its lending program. LISC currently supports 130 charter schools nationwide. This facility will be focused on the greater New York City and New Jersey areas. In total, the fund is expected to leverage approximately $100 million in additional capital to support high-quality charter school facilities.

"Providing financing for charter school facilities that benefit low- and moderate-income families is a critical component of the firm's commitment to comprehensive community development," said Alicia Glen, Managing Director and Head of the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs. "To date, the Urban Investment Group has committed approximately $150 million for charter school facilities in New York and New Jersey, and we are thrilled to partner with LISC, who has been a leader in charter school finance."

Since 1997, LISC has provided $127 million in charter school financing through direct loans, credit enhancement and New Markets Tax Credit investment authority. Supporting quality local schools is part of LISC's Building Sustainable Communities initiative, a comprehensive strategy to help transform distressed neighborhoods into good places to live, work, do business and raise families.

"Access to a quality education is fundamental to families and is at the core of healthy communities," noted Michael Rubinger, LISC President and CEO. "By funding this facility, Goldman Sachs ensures that thousands of low-income children will have access to innovative local schools that also help revitalize blighted neighborhoods."

"Securing and operating quality facilities are among the greatest challenges for charter schools," noted Reena Bhatia, Director with LISC's Educational Facilities Financing Center. "There are 1.5 million children educated through charter schools and 400,000 additional kids on waiting lists. There is tremendous need, especially in low-income communities.

"In the current economic environment, meeting that need is more difficult than ever," she continued. "Despite the fact that charter schools are a high-performing line of community development lending, private financing is severely constrained. That's why this Goldman Sachs facility is so critical. It offers children without a decent school option the chance at the educational opportunities they deserve."