As Arthur Schlesinger predicted, private interests are subverting public purpose. The narrative of economic utility dominates school reform. Reform language is not uplifting and embodies the traditional connotations of things gone wrong that need correcting. The language of renewal celebrates the self and reflects a supportive, caring ethos. (25…

The three major players in the current efforts to privatize schools are the following companies: Education Alternatives, Inc., the Edison Project, and Public Strategies Group Inc. Explanations of their programs include core competencies, economic capability, technological capability, and strategic capability. (MLF)

Explores the history of privatizing university housing and some current financing options, including use of developer and private foundations. Examples of successful alternative financing methods are highlighted. (GR)

Foster parents were surveyed concerning their attitudes toward the privatization of family foster care services in Kansas. Respondents reported their current level of satisfaction, opinions about privatization, and their experiences with new community-based treatment teams. Responses indicated that satisfaction remained high, but also variances in…

This article discusses how the private management of public schools, charter schools, home schooling, and virtual schools is impacting the art education of students. In a growing number of locations throughout the U.S., education has been taken out of the public realm and recast as a consumer product by various private school choice programs. The…

This article examines some of the controversial issues emerging from the privatization of biomedical research and commercialization of biotechnology. The aim is to identify the dominant social, political, and ethical risks associated with the recent shift from academic to corporate science and from the increasing emphasis on investing in research…

As amply documented by "evangelical/liberal" Jim Wallis in his new "God's Politics", any country can be profoundly improved by voices of faith, hope, and love whose appeals are to reason, conscience, and civility, and who have avoided the entrapments of partisanship. Among such voices have been those of Martin Luther King,…

The "Talking Stick" is published bimonthly, six times a year in January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/December by the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International. Each issue is divided into three sections: Features, Columns, and Departments. These sections contain…

Countries in the Arab region are faced with the challenge of developing their populations' skills and technical knowledge, or human capital, in order to compete in the 21st century global economy. The authors describe the education and labor market initiatives implemented or under way in four countries in the Arab region -- Lebanon, Oman, Qatar,…

We examine the effects of governments' use of alternative service provision on public employment using panel data from a nationally representative sample of local governments. We model the effects of alternative service provision on the size of the public workforce and hypothesize that alternative provision jointly impacts both full- and part-time…

Since 2004, a number of Canadian provinces have initiated comprehensive reviews of their respective public post-secondary education systems. This paper examines the ways in which these provincial post-secondary education reviews are consistent with the pervasive influence of economic globalization on higher education and a more market-driven and…

This article outlines the events that have led to Cuba's current engagement with global capitalism and the implications for Cuban education. The author looks at what Noam Chomsky (1999) has repeatedly referred to as "Cuba's trouble making in the hemisphere," such as it is. The author answers the question, "Why does the US government…

Today, American education faces a crisis. It is not too extreme to say that public education hangs in the balance. Anyone who has read the history of American education knows that there have always been critics. But they did not want public education dismantled. They wanted it to be better. Today, however, there are critics who believe that public…

Hong Kong has undergone a series of educational reforms since the mid 1990s in response to the tidal wave of globalisation. This article tries to examine the recent education reforms in Hong Kong's higher education within the global context, by putting into perspective a discussion of its policy implications of marketisation, privatisation and…

With Michigan's public school districts facing a decline in per-pupil funding, more districts are contracting out for at least one of the three major school support services--food, custodial and transportation--than ever before. This year's survey of school districts found that 44.6 percent of all Michigan school districts contract out for at…