Paul Horton: Why Is Public Television Against Public Schools? by Diane Ravitch

Paul Horton: Why Is Public Television Against Public Schools? by dianeravitch

Paul Horton, a history teacher at the University of Chicago Lab School and fervent advocate for public education, asks why public education continues to lavish so much favorable attention in the leaders of the privatization movement while disregarding dissenting voices or--worse--treating our nation's public schools shabbily.

He suggests that the Republican attack of public funding of PBS may have made the network dependent on the billionaires who favor privatization and view public schools with contempt.

With the sole exception of Bill Moyers, who has run programs about ALEC's efforts to destroy every public service, and who recently interviewed me about the profit motive in the privatization movement, PBS has made no effort to investigate the assault on public education across the nation.

Horton contrasts the lavish attention devoted to the privatization propaganda film "Waiting for 'Superman,'" with the absence of attention to a remarkable new film celebrating the daily struggles of public schools in Pasadena, California. This film, "Go Public," tells the true story of life in a public school. Will it appear on public television? That's up to you.

The same might be said of "Rise Above the Mark," another well-produced film that tells the story of real life in schools today and the insidious efforts to destroy public education by the powerful and complicit politicians.

David Sirota recently compelled PBS to return $3.5 million to billionaire John Arnold, who had underwritten a series on the "pension crisis," an issue dear to him as a critic of defined benefit pensions.

Maybe Horton's critique will encourage PBS to give equal time to our nation's public schools, not just their critics.