One gathers from a recent discussion at the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) that an innocuous-sounding new organization called Achieve is the blunt instrument to bring about the work-force/technologizied brand of school reform favored by big business. Leading the charge for the corporate-statists is technology titan IBM and its CEO, Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
Lamenting the fact that “the American public has this ethic of local control,” Colorado Governor Roy Romer told fellow NEGP members, “this country needs an institution . . . to organize all the changes. . . . I think the best crack at that institution, quite frankly, is Achieve.” Indeed, if the intent is to move away from local control of education to a system run by rich and powerful elites, then Achieve is the best bet. In many key respects it has been set up like a self-perpetuating subsidiary of IBM.
A little background: Annoyed by grass-roots opposition to the Goals 2000/School-to-Work model of systemic restructuring, Gerstner called fellow big-biz chiefs and the nation’s governors to a National Education Summit last year at IBM headquarters in Palisades, New York. The business leaders threatened to withhold new or expanded operations from states that balk at work-force prep as the new paradigm for public education. To make the blackmail credible they agreed to fund a nongovernmental entity to monitor each state’s setting of standards. Achieve is that entity, having opened a Washington office early in 1997. Its twelve-member board is evenly split between CEOs and governors. A search is under way for a high-profile director, perhaps a retired CEO.
Having called the Summit, Gerstner now serves as cochair of Achieve’s board; furthermore, if vacancies occur among business members, Gertsner will name the replacements.
Average folks may want no part of national education standards that aim to produce compliant, TQM-trained workers as opposed to literate, independent-minded individuals.
Only the naive think that corporate moguls are leading the charge out of altruistic motives. It is no coincidence that technology companies like IBM are out in front. Wiring all K-12 students to the Internet, as President Clinton has proposed, would create a market of fifty million children for IBM and other computer companies. By demanding electronic portfolios to track all children into careers and throughout their working lives, School-to-Work opens another avenue for big bucks to blow into big business. Much of the summit communiqué shamelessly hawked technology as a panacea for education.
People who don’t like the idea of IBM joining forces with state governors to seize control over education away from local institutions should speak out. One citizen can make a big difference at the state level just by following legislation and maintaining contact with his state legislator. And don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with Gerstner. His address is: IBM Corporation, Old Orchard Road, Armonk, NY 10504.