Should any regular reader be surprised by Mr. Brooks’ enthusiasm for The New American Academy whose supporters are Met Life and a partnership with Pencil. For a list of the supporters of Pencil see here. Three of the supporters are : J.P. Morgan Chase, Bloomberg, Charles&Karyn Bendit/Taconic Investment Partners LLC. American Capital and Mr. Brooks have a common goal, to subvert, indeed to destroy, the notion of the commons, and in that republican sine qua non is the vital function of institutionalized public education. The Free Market obsession of modern Conservatism finds many battlegrounds in our politics and ‘Education Reform’ is one such sight of contention. Mr. Brooks opinionating is driven by a moralizing politics i.e. post Reagan Conservatism, it is the cornerstone of his essays. I have no quarrel with advances in public education and improvements in educational practice, for the benefit of students and their interests, not the interests of a demonstrably corrupt and self-seeking Capital. Public Education needs to remain independent of corporate money and influence, which in real terms means a healthy tax increase on the 1%, and other measures to protect children from predators, of all kinds. That reality is anathema to both Conservatives and their first cousins the New Democrats. So the Conservative politics of ‘Education Reform’ is driven by forces that seek to nullify the self- interested altruism of public education, within the republican milieu, with the imperatives of Capital, now matter how circuitous the route. Please see the informative, educational, lively and contentious replies to Mr. Brooks essay that exceed my comments by light years!

Almost Marx