Turning around? Not in a no excuses school.

Turning around? Not in a no excuses school.

... these schools have developed very elaborate behavioral regimes that they insist all children follow, starting in kindergarten. Submission, obedience, and self-control are very large values. They want kids to submit. You can’t really do this kind of instruction if you don’t have very submissive children who are capable of high levels of inhibition and do whatever they’re told. [...] In order to maximize academic accomplishment, no time can be wasted and anything that’s not academically targeted, that’s not geared to what the students have to know, is time wasted. So there is almost no opportunity for play, for relaxation, very little time for extra-curricular activities. The day is jammed with academics, especially math and reading because that’s what gets tested. The view of time and strict discipline are related, by the way; in order to get these kids to attend over very long hours—they have extended days and extended weeks—you have to be tough with the kids, really severe. They want these kids to understand that when authority speaks you have to follow because that’s basic to learning.

The rise of corporate education policy in the United States isn't a labor issue only because it attacks teachers and their unions. Education is how the nation shapes its future workers. Education scholar Joan Goodman details how many charter schools are training children Submission to authority and tolerance for working long hours in a rigid environment. Doesn't that sound like a bad boss's dream?

Continue reading below the fold for more of the week's labor and education news.