Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education

FEATURING NOLIWE ROOKS – Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy Devos is finding it hard to attend public events without being the target of protests. The virulently strong supporter of school privatization and charter schools has become a lynchpin for mass dismay of the state of our public school system. But privatization did not begin with Devos. It has a long history embedded within the early days of racial desegregation and the Brown Vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

In a new book, Noliwe Rooks writes about how private investment in public education has sky-rocketed – and the result is worse achievement outcomes, more segregation, more privatization.

Noliwe Rooks, Director of American Studies at Cornell University, former associate director of African American studies at Princeton University. She has written four books including White Money/Black Power and Hair Raising. Her newest book is Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education.

**This segment was originally broadcast on October 19, 2017.