Rabois has taught at several schools that used to be known as "alternative schools" before corporate "reformers" got into the act to convert education into streamlined factories designed to serve corporate needs. This new corporate vision of education promotes schools under private control using public tax money. Essentially it is the privatization of public education without using private money. To disguise their aims, they cleverly use words like "alternative" and "reform", and thus introduce confusion as to what education should be about.
Although Rabois initially direct his essay toward developments in higher education, he offers insights on what a democratic, child-centered education ought to be like and how this differs from what the corporate-driven versions are offering.
If you have the time and interest, I highly recommend listening to a recent 55 minute interview at KPFA radio station in Berkeley, California in which Rabois elaborates his views on education in contrast to what the corporate version is trying to spread in the US.
Critical thinking, democracy, and student-centered learning -- these themes are the basis of alternative education. Ira Rabois reflects on his own experience teaching philosophy and english at a public alternative school in upstate New York, and why developing inner motivation for learning is preferable to relying on grades and external discipline. He also discusses the attacks that all public education, including alternative schooling, face today.
