Tweed Effect
In 1871, Boss Tweed had textbooks published by Harper & Brothers thrown out of New York City public schools. His motives for this were political and commercial. The effects of his actions were educational. This site explores the interplay between commerce, politics, and our schools.
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Economic shifts and education reform are the subject of this statistics-heavy animated infographic called Did you know? It got well over 4 million hits on YouTube.
An animation critique of the rise of online learning and corporate influence in education reform.
Commentators and experts from both education and business agree that students today need a new set of learning experiences to prepare them for life and work. The question remains, however, as to what this new kind of learning looks like. Online courses are often positioned as the exemplar, but a closer analysis of what and how students learn online might well cast some doubt on such claims.
It is part of popular reform discourse to blame current educational woes on the remnants of a “factory model” of education. What concerns me is that by using educational history this way, some reformers position themselves as somehow ahistorical. While at first it seems that they are rooting their claims in history, a closer look suggests that they use history as a red herring, diverting our attention to lessons and questions history has to offer.
In this excerpt, Secretary Duncan discusses the need to break with the “factory model” in order to reform our schools, citing online learning as a key strategy. I would argue that quick and rhetorical references to 19th century education, without pausing to consider the possibility that there are lessons to be learned, positions the speaker and her cause as falsely ahistorical.
Identifying and discussing the presence of commercial influence in education begins with listening closely to policymakers’ language. In each of these clips, the speakers’ words convey more than just educational goals, they also rely heavily on private companies.
