[PeDAGoG] my blog on UNESCO's GEM Report on the privatization of education

Wed Jun 22 21:52:06 CEST 2022

Dear Sujit,

Thank you for your thoughtful response to my blog.  You raise BIG questions
that need much more discussion!  I value Illich's critique of institutional
education, the Zapatista approach to education, and think that "government"
and the world of nation-states needs to be re-thought!  I look forward to
considering some of these issues in our forthcoming webinar on Unitierra.

Best,
Steve

On Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 10:41 AM Sujit.Sinha <sujit.sinha at apu.edu.in> wrote:

> Dear Steve
>
> Thanks for this article of yours. I am writing this letter to the whole
> group as I think there are some fundamental questions which might be of
> interest to everyone  in this group. .
>
> . You have said  and I quote “*For the major existential problems the
> world faces today, we need another sea change, one that places governance
> in the hands of the public, of governments, of civil society and of a more
> participatory democracy.  Privatization is a scourge.  Climate and other
> environmental catastrophes, the pandemic, ongoing wars and violence,
> continued hunger, poverty, and inequality, rampant sexism and racism are
> not only not solvable by business but are exacerbated by the workings of
> neoliberal capitalism, perhaps by capitalism in any form.
> <https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/conscience-progressive>”
> *
>
> 1.      It seems  that you still have a lot of faith in “governments” ,
> although you do mention civil society and more participatory democracy.
> Presumably you have some other form of “government “ in mind and not the
> 190 odd Nation States of today , capitalist or socialist ( when they
> existed )
>
> 2.      While you have made your views very clear regarding this
> festering public vs private basic education debate, you do not seem to
>  critique “institutional education” ( public or private ) which Illich
> started so many years back. But you advocate for more funds, more
> professionals for “public primary education” which so many years back
> Illich had said is an inevitable outcome of liberal national  school
> educational reviews.
>
> 3.      Incidentally in India both Gandhi and Tagore had experimented
> with education opposed to INDUSTRIALISM. All this  is relevant as very soon
> we are going to discuss Unitierra which owes a lot to Illich’s and Gustavo
> Esteva’s churnings on a different human destiny away from last two hundred
> years of spectacular industrial civilization , and the governments which
> have superbly coordinated this industrialism. The Zapatista movement is
> already experimenting with a very different school education which does not
> fall neatly in this public – private axis.
>
>
>
> Sujit
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* GTA-PeDAGoG [mailto:gta-pedagog-bounces at lists.ourproject.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Steven J. Klees
> *Sent:* Wednesday, June 22, 2022 2:40 AM
> *To:* PeDAGoG: Post-Development Academic-Activist Global Group <
> gta-pedagog at lists.ourproject.org>
> *Cc:* Luci Attala <l.attala at uwtsd.ac.uk>; dan baron <
> danbaronmst at hotmail.com>; Laura Rival <laura.rival at qeh.ox.ac.uk>;
> Elizabeth Rahman <elizabeth.rahman at ctl.ox.ac.uk>; Amanda Janoo <
> amanda at wellbeingeconomy.org>
> *Subject:* [PeDAGoG] my blog on UNESCO's GEM Report on the privatization
> of education
>
>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
>
>
> FYI.  NORRAG (https://www.norrag.org/) just published a blog of mine on
> UNESCO's 2021/22 Global Education Monitoring Report on non-state actors in
> education.  The Report has some things to commend it but I find it falls
> far short of what is needed as well as reflect on the privatization of
> education more broadly.  A quote from my blog: "Privatization is a
> scourge."
>
>
>
>
> https://www.norrag.org/the-privatization-of-education-reflections-on-unescos-gem-report-on-non-state-actors/
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Steve
>
>
>
> Steven J. Klees
>
> Former President and Honorary Fellow, Comparative and International
> Education Society
>
> University Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
>
> Professor, International Education Policy Program
>
> Affiliate Faculty, Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and
> Sexuality Studies
>
> Affiliate Faculty, Latin American Studies Center
>
> Affiliate Faculty, Consortium on Race, Gender & Ethnicity
>
> College of Education
>
> University of Maryland
>
> College Park, MD 20742
>
> 301-405-2212
>
> *https://www.education.umd.edu/directory/steven-klees
> <https://www.education.umd.edu/directory/steven-klees>*
>
> Recent Book:  *The Conscience of a Progressive*
>
> Blog:  https://blog.umd.edu/stevenklees/
>
> Co-founder: https://www.thealternativesproject.org/
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