Unlike my usual custom of reprinting in full, for this one you’ll have to click the link. This isn’t even all that long as New Yorker articles go but it’s considerably longer than the average “This Day in History” selection. Everybody’s gotta draw a line somewhere and mine’s somewhere south of 3000 words. The full article appears in the New Yorker print edition of August 27, 2018 under the headline “Shaking the Foundations.” You can read it here.
Full disclosure: Among the many Andrew Carnegie endowments listed at the outset of the piece, the author fails to mention a big one: My former employer, TIAA-CREF (Teachers’ Income Annuity Association – College Retirement Equity Fund). Along with my current employer, CalSTRS (California State Teachers’ Retirement System), they each have as their mission safeguarding – and growing – retirement money for educators. In case you missed it, most teachers are not themselves wealthy. Then again, mentioning it would fail to bolster her main point. Anyway, Caveat Emptor.
So, waddayasay? Is Rob Reich right? Is today’s philanthropy failing democracy? And especially when it comes to education, what kind of future do we want?
Bonus cartoon. I’ve included this for your your enjoyment just in case you didn’t care to plow through the full 3000+ words.
“Bile exits the gallbladder, passes through the cystic duct, gets released into the intestines, and, ultimately, winds up on the Internet.”