Churning Out Mindless Drones

Handing public school funding to freakazoids and corporations to establish indoctrination centers will be one of the first bills to sail through Kentucky's new all-repug lege when it convenes on January 3. Governor Trump Will Be Great for Kentucky will sign it at light speed.

Casey Quinlan at Think Progess:

Americans can expect to see a new era of education policy that embraces charter school expansion like never before, but it comes at a cost — the cultural identity of the students these schools say they serve.

Although charter schools differ in their approach to school culture, many popular charter school networks, such as Success Academy, the Knowledge Is Power Program, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, and STRIVE Prep, embrace a strict “no excuses” approach to learning, where respect of authority is important and students always wear school uniforms.

Many of these charter school models have populations of mostly low-income students of color. These responsibilities — to be quiet, walk in an orderly line, and adhere to very strict rules, are often called school norms, and critics have pointed out that some of these norms reinforce the idea that in order for students of color to be successful, they must be “compliant.”

Shut up and obey!  That's how we create the critical-thinking voters of a strong Democracy mindless drones the trumpian dystopia requires.