Say you want a revolution?: Parents Revolution, ‘Astro turf’ organizations and the privatization of public schools

By Danny Well
The Daily Censored: Underreported News and Commentary
October 5, 2009

Overshadowed by two wars, a corporate financed health care debate, economic crisis, swelling unemployment, corporate theft, social unrest and reality TV, a discussion of educational policy is virtually impossible under the current corporate media regime. Unacceptable to most American citizens, the current public educational system is being radically disassembled, state by state, like Legos in a pre-school play room. In its stead is being built a new corporate educational model of non-profit and for-profit educational retail charter chains or outlets that will replace the decaying urban public schools. The public school water bag has burst and the Educational Maintenance Organizations (EMOs) are like kids scrambling for candy under a broken piñata.

For those witnessing the health care or health insurance reform dispute as it is playing out on the national landscape, they won’t be surprised when they begin to see the ‘astro turf’ groups assembled around charter schools emerge, if they haven’t already. This is another reason Arne Duncan, Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton are riveted on visiting major cities at the end of September for their whirlwind educational restructuring tour to promote educational reform, as they mendaciously refer to it (See Project Censored, They want to be on hand to applaud and cheer on the ‘grass root’ efforts aimed at charterizing a way forward in the Great Race to the Top, the hallmark of Duncan ’s reform efforts.

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