The Privatization of the US Education System

See Original Website Here

According to Fairtest (The National Center for Fair and Open Testing), the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) has actually slowed the progress of education, and that data is based on information from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and other studies that were conducted independently. (Media Freedom International, April 2012) Professor Diane Ravitch, possibly one of the largest voices against the NCLB, though she used to be one of the largest supporters of the act when she was the Assistant Secretary of Education, under George W Bush. 
To me, one of the best parts about this infographic is that it shows where the United States stands in comparison to the rest of the world. According to an article in the Huffington Post, the more money your family has, statistically, you're more likely to do better on standardized tests, like the SAT and ACT, both privately owned standardized tests that many schools require you to take at least one in order to gain admittance. (I'm not saying that all schools require students to take one in order to get in. In fact, by going here, you can see a list of over 800 schools that are standardized test optional.)
The competitive nature of the American lifestyle has impacted the way that we view education as well. In an article written by Project Censored's Media Freedom Internation, they talk about how the communities with low test scores are given the least amount of government funding, and some of those school districts happen to be in the major cities, like New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other such cities with large class divides. As the article goes on to say "The ruling elite class needs poverty in order to stay on top of the hierarchy of power, and the people with power drive the realities of the people without power." 

Original Source here

In 2012, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook promised $100 million dollars to the public schools of Newark, NJ, which has outraged people in the local community. The money, many parents feel, won't actually help their kids. (Turnstyle).What's worse is that only 22% of students asked from across the country can identify two contributions made by Lincoln, a statistic proven about every 10 years or so by various newspapers. (Source here ).
So, what are some upsides to privatizing our schools? For starters,

• teachers would be able to make a larger salary
• students going to these schools are ore likely to do better on standardized tests
• More individual attention for students by teachers
• teaching jobs, while still competitive, would be given to those properly qualified
• higher grades in school can help students to afford to go to college (like Obama said he wanted in the past State of the Union address)
• there can be ore regulations put onto schools, if owned by private companies
• not all state tests are mandated for private school students to take

But what are some downsides?

• teaching only to the test
• not everyone would be able to afford to go to these schools
• there can be regulations put onto schools

Don't get me wrong, I graduated from the New York State public schools system, and while it's not perfect, there were a lot of upsides to it. I was given the opportunity to play an instrument (I played the violin from 4th grade to 12th grade), I was able to play sports (I was a field hockey goalie from 7th to 12th grade), and I was able to take AP classes, as my school offered 17, and you could audit the rest of them. Not all schools in New York though are given this opportunity. Living in Westchester has it's perks, but by privatizing the schools here, more students are likely to get the same opportunities I had/ If the government were able to provide subsidies as well, like it does on corn products, these schools would be able to privide scholarships for students who couldn't otherwise afford o attend.

To get involved with education reform, the IndyTalks website has a few groups listed who deal with education reform in this country like the Mind Trust, Teach for America, and Stand for Children. For more information about these groups, feel free to click here.
To see the article on ProjectCensored about the privatization of schools, click here. 
A nice infographic on private universities.

Original Source here