Event: The Modern American Conservative Movement
Host: Talin: Teachers as Leaders in Newark
Speaker: Brandon Rippey
Location: Science Park High School
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 11, 2011 5:30-8:15 pm
As you could tell in class, I was very exciting about this lecture. The conservative movement is another area of history I did not learn until graduate school. Although that might not sound great, I did not take an interest in history during high school, and when I reflected after the lecture, I do not think I was taught a wide range of topics to catch my interest. This also reminds me of one of our first assignments in the NMUTRP, our history of American education project. I cannot help but to question, why didn’t I learn any of this in my schooling?
I can go on and on about all that I learned, but I will keep it specific to what I found the most interesting and the most relatable to education. The lecture began with the history of the conservative movement from the 1930s to 1980s. Rippey addressed the following questions: where did it come from, why did it become popular, and how did it get people to vote? He defined conservatives as people who do not like change; they like the way things are because it keeps them wealthy.
In the 1930s, conservative ideas, such as a free-market economy were not popular. The country was in a state of depression and Roosevelt was looking to intervene with the New Deal programs. This made the top bourgeoisie scared. Their main concerns were: average Americans would blame businesses and free-market for the Great Depression, accept and support labor unions, accept high taxes on businesses, and accept government regulation. As a result, the bourgeoisies decided to "re-educate" Americans. The re-education included the organization of local Chambers of Commerce, groups to break up unions, and spend large amounts of money to advertising free-market and devalue the government. The conservative movement even distributed pamphlets to children. The ultimate goal however was to infiltrate higher education institutions because if it’s taught in higher education, it has to be right. Here is where Wal-Mart enters.
Starting in 1975, Wal-Mart provided money to small town, southern colleges. In exchange for the funding, the colleges would shape their economic departments around free-market. Average Americans were persuaded to think: taxing the rich will hurt the economy, labor unions are a problem, the government is a problem, and free-market is the solution.
Currently, the conservative movement is pushing corporate education reform. In addition, the most disturbing fact I learned is the movement hires companies to break-up unions. Specifically in one year, “Teachers Union Exposed” spent 7 million dollars to criticize the Newark Teachers Union. Sadly, this company is funded by Wal-Mart, Apple, etc. (who doesn’t own an iPod or iPhone!?) Privatizing education will open a new market for big business interests.
I am not sure where to go from here with all this new information, but I know my eyes are open wider when I watch the news, attend lectures, and have daily conversations.
p.s. Wal-Mart, iPod, and iPhone came up on my spell check!
I attended this lecture along with Katie and Sarah Davie. To add on to what Katie mentioned, this lecture was jam packed with information and history regarding the history of conservatism. I wanted to comment on the main takeaways that I had from the event; though, there was tons of information to comment on as Katie brought up.
ReplyDeleteBrandon made an excellent point. BE CAUTIOUS OF INFORMATION OR NEWS! Look for news and/or information that is presented by seemingly credibly and objective source but are really sponsored by groups such as the Heritage Foundation. Groups make take more friendly names that may include inviting words in it like "Freedom" as in Freedom Works or the word "Citizen" as in Citizens for a Sound Economy. These groups may promote American "liberty" but there goal is to really weaken government and regulation of the market to keep that 1% in control. The lack of regulation due to "Free Market" and "Capitalism" has led to this huge economic gap and disparity between poor and rich. It truly only benefits that 1%.
For teachers these groups aim to weaken unions and develop more influence in school in hopes of increasing privatization. In Newark a group called the Center for Union Facts tried to exposed teachers union for being failures and making false facts. This group was funded mainly by Apple and Wal-Mart; two of the more powerful companies.
These wealthy conservatives dominate society. They are not on the side of the middle class and only look out for their own needs. They could care less about how to create good schools or good teachers, but care about ways to make the most money. They have paid hundreds of millions to make sure Obama does not get anything done. For example, single payer health care which works in many other countries is not even brought up by Republicans and Obama has been scared into a corner. This is because Private pharmaceuticals is an incredibly rich industry.
Government in its true spirit can be a powerful resource to helping the US public and lowering the disparity. The lack of regulation and influence of private companies in public sectors weakens the low and middle class.
All in all be cautious of what you hear and see. Look for who sponsors the information and why!
hhahahahah katie i love your "P.S" - excellent and informative post, thanks!
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