2 min listen
Destroying Democracy in Education: The Case of New Orleans
FromCurrent Affairs
ratings:
Length:
53 minutes
Released:
Jul 7, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Celeste Lay is a professor of political science at Tulane University and the author of Public Schools, Private Governance: Education Reform and Democracy in New Orleans, which discusses the New Orleans charter school experiment. Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans has switched to an all-charter system, essentially abolishing public schools, as part of one of the most radical experiments in "education reform" anywhere. Prof. Lay discusses the politics that made this change possible, shows what the lack of democratic accountability for schools has meant for New Orleans, and evaluates the reform experiment. In this episode we discuss what happened and why, and what we know about whether the "all charter" system actually served children and communities. We also talk about the question of why democracy matters: what happens when you take it away? How does it change an institution? What does "private governance" of public institutions mean in practice? A New Orleans charter school sponsored by Capital One in a school building previously named for Thurgood Marshall (The Lens)
Released:
Jul 7, 2022
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Bonus episode excerpt: Masterpiece Pieshop: An excerpt from today's bonus episode, available in full to our Patreon patrons, in which *Current Affairs* legal editor Oren Nimni and social media editor Vanessa A. Bee explain and comment on the recent *Masterpiece Cakeshop* decision that came down from the Supreme Court last week. by Current Affairs