Issue #221

Public schools are under siege, and who’s the worst offender?

A feature of the Obama presidency has been his campaign against the American public school system, eating way at the foundations of elementary education. That means the erosion of an institution that has been one of the keystones of the Republic. The project to remake it as a mixed public/private hybrid is inspired by a discredited dogma that charter schools perform better. This article of faith serves an alliance of interests—ideological and commercial—for whom the White House has been point man. A President whose tenure in office is best known for indecision, temporizing, and vacillation has been relentless since day one in using the powers of his office to advance the cause. Such conviction and sustained dedication is observable in only one other area of public policy: the project to expand the powers and scope of the intelligence agencies that spy on, and monitor the behavior of persons and organizations at home and abroad. The audacity of the project is matched by the passive deference that it is accorded. Michael Brenner, Huffington Post, 2-17-14.