Wayne Au on Gates’ Education Failure, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard on Criminalizing Protest

This week on CounterSpin: A new report finds a big Bill Gates–backed education initiative is a bust. The findings, writes the Washington Post‘s Valerie Strauss, with some restraint, “revive questions about whether the country is well-served when America’s wealthiest citizens choose pet projects and fund them so generously that public institutions, policy and money follow—even if those projects are not grounded in sound research.” For most media, though, those questions need to be not so much “revived,” as engaged in the first place. We’ll talk about that with Wayne Au, editor at Rethinking Schools and professor at the University of Washington/Bothell.

Also on the show: While elite media preach “civility” towards those enforcing cruel and hateful policies, they will also celebrate the Fourth of July, marking the rather impolite act of establishing national independence through revolution. The truth is this country has a rich tradition of radicalism and dissent, struggle in many ways being the thing that has pulled us forward. It matters very much that the White House is working hard to criminalize protest as more and more people feel moved to take part. We talked about that this time last year with Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, activist, attorney and executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.
Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look back at recent coverage of Mexico and gangs.


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