10/1 Brief Disaster Capitalism – Welcome to The System!

After reading “Blank is Beautiful”, I still cannot determine what to re-write on this “clean slate” will be the best for the people, for the place, and for the country. From the documentary, “The Battle for Paradise”, two sides of the argument are displayed, one from the government and entrepreneurs, the other, from the people. But their concerns are focused on different aspects of the reconstruction, including education, economy, and environment. Thus, I would like to analyze their different points of view to take a closer look at the “Disaster Capitalism” with the focus on the education system.

The education system is believed to be predominantly important for the future generations. It brings hope after what disasters have done to one place. From the documentary, one teacher, Nydia Pena, has declared “the importance for schools to be open, because children need food, water, and people who can share with their experience”, and she continues, “the only problem is the light, we don’t have the light yet.” (11:25-11:40) After catastrophe, people’s first instinct is to repair what they have and go back to normal life, the life with electricity, running water, food, and all kinds of infrastructure, as soon as possible. Schools are essential to families, because they can take care of their kids while the adults are preoccupied with works and reconstructions. But the government’s withhold on resuming school for the replacement of charter schools has upset their citizens, which raises the resistance of charter schools. In the video, they complain that schools are not repaired because of the new projects.

Klein also mentions the educational system reform in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She claims: “Charter schools are deeply polarizing in the United States, and nowhere more than in New Orleans, where they are seen by many African-American parents as a way of reversing the gains of the civil rights movement…” (Klein 5) The following paragraphs expand on the rapid change of school systems: “before Hurricane Katrina, the school board had run 123 public schools’ now it ran just 4. Before that storm, there had been 7 charter schools in the city; now there were 31.” (Klein 6). Klein doubts Friedman’s reform of school system, and quotes the public school teachers calling it “an educational land grab” (Klein 6). However, from recent studies, research has shown increase in student achievement by 11-16 percentiles, increase in high school graduation rate by 3-9 percentage points, etc.1 Although the video “What is Neoliberalism” has discussed about the quantifiable education success in relation to neoliberalism, I believe that data does show progress now and then.

From the case of New Orleans, one can see that charter schools are not necessarily a terrible idea, especially from the bigger picture, starting a new sentence on a clean slate, will make use of the place better. Then what is the problem here? Why won’t people understand that would be for greater good in the long run? Well, I think that it is caused by insufficiency of the government, skepticism of the people towards the government, and fear of the new system. The first one as talked about earlier, makes inconvenience for a lot of families, especially with both working parents. It will also show the government’s hesitation and incapability of such huge projects. The skepticism, furthermore, is not only mistrust of the ability of the government, but also relations between the government and private companies. Last but not the least, the fear does not only come from the parents but also the teachers. As Klein has said, “some of the younger teachers were rehired by the charters, at reduced salaries; most were not” (Klein 6).

Therefore, I believe Friedman’s ideology and initial intention are reforming for improvement for the whole society, however, he needs to pursue the public. I would suggest that right after disasters, the government or private institutions who are involved with charter schools later needs to support all victims with a temporary facility before the charter school start to run. Thus, there will be a transition period for both the families and the government. The Disaster Capitalism is not inherently an evil economic opportunity, as long as it can improve the society eventually.

1 https://educationresearchalliancenola.org/publications/what-effect-did-the-new-orleans-school-reforms-have-on-student-achievement-high-school-graduation-and-college-outcomes

http://https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/opinion/columnists/new-orleans-charter-schools-education-reform.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

Sabrina Duarte says:

September 30, 2018 at 9:54 pm

The reading for this discussion reminded me of the Parable of the Sower and how Lauren’s society was being devoured and transformed by private institutions and companies. These issues that the government and private institutions are trying to reform are controversial, so they attempt to use the trauma and destruction of chaos as an excuse to force these reforms on the people while they are still vulnerable and hopeless. Would the change to privatization of public estates lead to a society like Lauren’s? Would we lose our freedom of speech on topics like education, the economy, and the environment?

Eden Kim says:

September 30, 2018 at 9:58 pm

Learning about disaster capitalism reminded me of Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor’s video about disabilities. Reading about the selfish motives of the powerful led me to wonder that maybe we don’t live in a world in which we help each other. However, watching the Puerto Rican people unite for the education they want proved otherwise; in some cases, community is regarded as more important than the individual. Will the power of citizens standing together in community ever outweigh the power of the government and the wealthy? Will there ever be a way for the government and the average citizen to work together, instead of there being skepticism and fear?

Rong Bao says:

September 30, 2018 at 10:35 pm

You’re right. People are hesitant and skeptical about the new changes made to the system, because the old system has proved to be effective to a certain extent. The new change will be seen as a challenge to the hegemonistic power that has been taken for granted.
In Friedman’s strategy, there seems to be a paradox of freedom when he advocated the privatization of the public school system while hoping the government to intervene and provide vouchers (Klein, 5). So in terms of the education system, where do you think people should draw the line of freedom?

Kevin Villagomez says:

September 30, 2018 at 10:41 pm

I found this reading and video to be a little evident in why things happen, it shows how the market works and why it works that way. In the times of crises where things need to be done better and quicker it is evident that they are going to turn towards the private sector because of the efficiency of cost. How do you think people would respond if the government where to be responsible for the building of all the schools and it were to take an extra month? People would be unpleased and would not find this an efficient use of their money.

Iklim Isyar says:

September 30, 2018 at 11:24 pm

I understand why people would not want to spend their own money for the sake of other’s repairs. However, would not giving private companies the authority reconstruct bring further harm in the long run to society? The society gives private companies opportunities to become oligarchs over their future in order to protect what is theirs for that time. Besides, is it really “unfair” to interfere to the market if people in need are exploited?