Welcome to Part 2 of The War Report’s Back to the Future Series on the Common Core. In this episode, Dr. Deborah Owens will answer questions from our previous blog and address what she calls “the gorilla in the room.” The following is Dr. Owen’s synopsis of the upcoming show:

By Deborah Owens

The Common Core represents the “gorilla in the room.”  This gorilla has further facilitated a raft of pro-corporate education reform initiatives that support charter schools, Teach for America, Draconian high stakes testing, VAM models for teacher accountability, and data mining of students’ personal and academic information — each of which lines the pockets of Wall Street entrepreneurs at the expense of our locally controlled public schools and, most importantly, our nation’s most precious resource, our children.

Click the link below to listen to why Dr. Owens calls Common Core the Gorilla in the Room:

The Gorilla in the Room War Report Podcast 

The following excerpts from The Origins… illustrate the third way of governance as it was developing in the 1990s.

In a first-rate example of how the corporations began their full-out assault on public education, here’s a quote from former IBM corporate superstar Lou Gerstner — the corporate superstar who sponsored the Palisades conference of corporate and gubernatorial CEOs that birthed ACHIEVE — in his opening remarks at the 1995 National Governors Association (NGA) meeting where Gerstner was an honored guest. He said, “I’m here because of Willie Sutton. Willie Sutton robbed banks, the story goes, because he realized that’s where the money is. I’m here because this is where the power is – the power to reform – no, to revolutionize – the US public school system.” (The Origins of the Common Core, p. 118).

In February 1996, one month before the IBM sponsored Palisades conference, Lehman Brothers sponsored the Education Industry Investment Conference. According to Douglas Dewey, “Conferees were regaled with new opportunities in a $600 billion industry, including preschool, K-12, post-secondary, and training and development.” For Dewey, writing for “The Freeman,” corporate entrepreneurship in the education field held the promise of finally eliminating government from education completely, “as public confidence in government schooling continues its inexorable collapse, and the whiff of billions begins stirring in the air, the savvy investor will focus his attention on the greatest emerging market in decades and treat government schools as just another competitor to blow out of the water.” (from The Origins of the Common Core, p. 129)

In summary, this series will suggest ways for all Americans who support their locally controlled schools to unite in efforts to reclaim the sacred ground of our democratic and locally controlled public schools.  The conclusion of the first two programs will set the tone for the third part of the series in which diverse forces, which are heroically challenging corporate education reformers and their governmental allies, engage in collaborative discussion that will unite and energize America in its efforts to marshal a unified front to reclaim America’s democratic locally controlled public schools.

To learn more and read a complete Bio about Dr. Owens, please visit her website Public Schools Central for up-to-date information on the Common Core and the Corporate Ed Reform Agenda. Here is the link for the BBS Live Radio Show and Former and Future Podcasts: The War Report on Public Education Here is the link to The War Report Facebook Page: The War Report on Public Education Facebook Group Twitter: @WarRepPubEd

Here is the podcast link from last week’s show: How did Anti-public School Corporate Reformers become the Dominant Force in Education Reform? Hosted by Dr. James Avington Miller, Jr and Special Guest Dr. Deborah Owens. This is the first in a three or four part series based on Dr. Owen’s book. If you missed last week’s show please listen to the podcast, read the summary from the blog, and then leave feedback in the blog comments section. Thank you!

Please join Deb Owens and James Avington Miller Jr. this Sunday, April 5, 2015 to discuss the Willie Sutton-like takeover of public education in America.

War Report Team

Reporting from the Front Lines

Boots on the Ground