Until recently the non-profit corporate parasites feeding off Gates cash, along with the education industry profiteers feeding off the taxpayers, were waging a public relations campaign to have Memphis known nationwide as Teacher Town. What sadness, particularly when thousands of real teachers have been replaced by the clueless temps from Teach for America and the fundamentalist missionaries from the Memphis Teacher Residency.
But despite all the ads, blogs, tweets, TFA propaganda, and endless FB posts crafted to appeal to unemployed millennials looking for the meanest kind of occupational self-flagellation and the coolest mini-brewery, the ed biz in Memphis is on a rocky road.
Because of persistent resistance from UMemphis faculty and other citizens, Relay has pulled the plug on setting up operations on campus, and a number of out-of-state high rolling charter companies have cancelled plans to open concentrated testing camps in Memphis. And as the TeacherTown website has become an empty shell, the big PR push to "Choose901" (901 is the Memphis area code) has scaled back so that naive millennials can no longer buy those awesome Choose901 t-shirts. Sorry, store closed.
Recently CorpEd's local blogger and charter disciple, Jon Alfuth, pulled the plug on his Bluff City Education blog, declaring that ground zero for charter privatization had shifted to Nashville. Hah! Obviously, Alfuth knows less about Nashville than he does Memphis.
All this comes as news arrives that, in a state that ranks 36th in child well-being, Memphis/Shelby County ranks 93rd out of 95 counties. And while poverty, racism, and segregation continue to be ignored, Memphis offers yet another prime example of failure by the corporate education losers. How long can we afford to allow these self-serving fools to divert attention away from the real problems facing urban America?
But despite all the ads, blogs, tweets, TFA propaganda, and endless FB posts crafted to appeal to unemployed millennials looking for the meanest kind of occupational self-flagellation and the coolest mini-brewery, the ed biz in Memphis is on a rocky road.
Because of persistent resistance from UMemphis faculty and other citizens, Relay has pulled the plug on setting up operations on campus, and a number of out-of-state high rolling charter companies have cancelled plans to open concentrated testing camps in Memphis. And as the TeacherTown website has become an empty shell, the big PR push to "Choose901" (901 is the Memphis area code) has scaled back so that naive millennials can no longer buy those awesome Choose901 t-shirts. Sorry, store closed.
Recently CorpEd's local blogger and charter disciple, Jon Alfuth, pulled the plug on his Bluff City Education blog, declaring that ground zero for charter privatization had shifted to Nashville. Hah! Obviously, Alfuth knows less about Nashville than he does Memphis.
All this comes as news arrives that, in a state that ranks 36th in child well-being, Memphis/Shelby County ranks 93rd out of 95 counties. And while poverty, racism, and segregation continue to be ignored, Memphis offers yet another prime example of failure by the corporate education losers. How long can we afford to allow these self-serving fools to divert attention away from the real problems facing urban America?
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