Toward a Critical Theory of Technology for Schooling

Abstract

The impact of the information revolution on schooling reform strategies is that it has opened the door to private corporations. Those dominating charitable education funding, dubbed “venture philanthropists,” are made up of investors rather than donors who seek returns in the form of sweeping changes to public schooling. These investors are also at the helm of mega corporations including Walmart, Microsoft, Facebook, and other Wall Street and Silicon Valley billionaires. The overarching goal behind much of the movement is to use the rhetoric that technological disruption has necessitated radical change in how we educate children to justify and legalize the funneling of public funds into the private sector. It is of little surprise that the reform rhetoric is toward privatization of public money in the form of expanding all types of charter schools, including virtual schools. Such schools are able to better realize the neoliberal agenda for education including recruiting nonunion teachers and corporate principals, building sophisticated data accountability systems, weakening tenure and seniority protection, and even reimaging the teaching profession all together. A case in point lies with the much-publicized recent reform efforts in New Jersey.