Scenario 1
1) parents are given more schools to choose from
2) on the basis of standardized test scores, parents determine which are the "poorly-run" schools and which are the "good" schools
3) parents that (a) are informed on these matters and (b) are willing to pay for and provide transportation to these other schools will do so
4) parents that are not informed on these matters and/or parents that are unable to pay for and provide transportation to these other schools will keep their kids at the "poorly-run" schools
5) because the highly-motivated parents abandon the "poorly-run" schools, these schools are left with students that do not benefit from strong parental support
6) the test scores of the "poorly-run" schools continue to plummet
7) these schools are eventually taken over by the state because they fail to make AYP for 5 years in a row
8) the state hands these schools over to private, for-profit educational management organizations such as Edison
9) public education in the U.S. amounts to approximately $400 billion per year; even if Edison gets only one-tenth of one percent of this pie, they will make $40 million per year
10) for $40 million, Edison will take U.S. taxpayer money and train kids in phonics, will coerce and humiliate them into passive submission, and will prepare them for life as docile, polite little ciphers, unaware of the workings of democracy, unable to think critically, and unaware of any other possibility
Scenario 2
1) parents are given more schools to choose from
2) on the basis of standardized test scores, parents determine which are the "poorly-run" schools and which are the "good" schools
3) eventually all parents move their children from the "poorly-run" schools to the "good" schools
4) the "poorly-run" schools are shut down and demolished
5) the "good" schools become overcrowded
6) faced with budget cuts and the unfunded federal mandate known as NCLB that has already drained funds out of schools and into the pockets of publishing companies/test developers, the "good" schools cram more and more students into already overcrowded classrooms
7) the quality of teaching and learning suffers at the "good" schools
8) test scores go down at the "good" schools
9) the "good" schools become the "poorly-run" schools
10) repeat steps 1 through 9 ad infinitum, ad nauseum
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