This response discusses the complexity of racial segregation in U.S. cities today and an emerging education movement for equity and racial justice. Racial segregation has been and continues to be a potent, and contested, strategy of containment, subordination, and exploitation, but African Americans have also, out of necessity, turned racial…

This commentary explores the so-called global "crisis" in education and the corresponding pressures and moves to "reform" education, and in particular, public education. The myths underpinning and driving these developments are examined. Supposed problems with (public) education and proposed solutions are explored. The…

In the United States, corporate school reform or neoliberal educational restructuring has overtaken educational policy, practice, curriculum, and nearly all aspects of educational reform. Although this movement began on the political right, the corporate school model has been heralded across the political spectrum and is aggressively embraced now…

1994 is an important year in South African history. It brought about significant socio-political changes in an attempt to undo the unjust practices perpetuated during the apartheid regime. The apartheid government had severely impacted all spheres and institutions of society, including education. In this interview, Vivek Vellanki asks Doctor Yusuf…

This article presents the author's critiques on Jim Garrison's essay and focuses on Garrison's concerns about the affronts posed to democracy by the standardization and accountability regimes in education. He rightfully highlights a few critical ways by which standardization and accountability in education reflect and reinforce antidemocratic…

In his essay "Individuality, Equality, and Creative Democracy--the Task Before Us," Jim Garrison (2012, in this issue) restates Dewey's call "to educate individuals capable of criticizing and recreating society--not simply reproducing the status quo." He writes that under the new structural feudalism, "schools assume the…

While Merrifield is correct in his basic argument that so-called "market reforms" in el/sec schooling are far from being pure market, he is incorrect to suggest that purer market projects are needed together with simulations of pure market reforms. There are two fundamental problems in that thesis. First, it is not clear that school choice in…

Sociologists exploring educational injustice often focus on socio-economic segregation as a central measure of injustice. The comprehensive ideal, furthermore, has the idea of socio-economic integration built into it. The current paper argues that socio-economic segregation is valuable only insofar as it serves other, more fundamental values. This…

Privatization undermines the role of public education in keeping democracy alive, offering consumerism as the only form of citizenship. Challenging the encroachment of corporatism is essential if democracy is to remain the defining principle of education and society. (SK)

In her zeal to advocate greater public school choice, Raywid criticizes the ASCD's "Public Schools of Choice" report unfairly. Raywid denigrates the importance of balancing public and private interests, claims that choice demands a form of rigorous social experimentation unsupported by research, and overlooks the report's positive guidance for…

Privatization of schools would abandon the nation's commitment to educational equity. Pluralism, educational excellence, and democratic governance are all at stake. A real reform and restructuring of public schools from the bottom up is underway, fundamentally questioning traditional assumptions about schooling. (SK)

This article focuses on the extent to which the legislative framework and education-funding models applicable to school education in South Africa post-1994 have, in attempting to address historical inequalities, resulted in a particular form of privatisation of public education. The article sets out the extent of the autonomy available to all…

Explores factors that have contributed to recent interest in the privatization of public education and reframes questions about the crisis in public education. The privatization issue has too often been seen as a technical matter, but it should not be pursued without full consideration of the social costs and benefits. (SLD)

In World Trade Organization negotiations, it has been proposed that education be treated as a service to be exchanged for profit. This is contrary to the United Nations covenant that education is a universal human right. Educators need to affirm that knowledge is not a commodity, but something whose benefit increases proportionately with the…

Discusses the growing phenomenon of private college counseling services (independent educational consultants, or IECs), using survey results (n=157 IECs) to document their characteristics and those of their users, and considers the implications of the privatization of college counseling for admissions, students' college choice behaviors, and…