Philanthropy, Hidden Strategy, and Collective Resistance

A Primer for Concerned Educators

Kathleen deMarrais, T. Jameson Brewer, Jamie C. Atkinson, Brigette A. Herron, Jamie B. Lewis

• Publisher: Myers Education Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781975500719, 9781975500702
• eBook ISBN: 9781975500733
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

A 2020 SPE Outstanding Book Award Winner
A 2019 AESA Critics' Choice Award Winner

Conservative ideologues have sought to shift the focus from the collective good to the individual good and to redirect the purposes and aims of education away from public benefit and in favor of private enterprise. As such, market-oriented, privatized, and standardized approaches to education reform have worked toward achieving that goal. This book is a primer on how the political right is utilizing various aspects of philanthropy and the political process to influence educational policymaking.

In 1971, corporate lawyer and future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell wrote a detailed memo that galvanized a small group of conservative philanthropists to create an organizational structure and fifty-year plan to alter the political landscape of the United States. Funded with significant "dark money," the fruits of their labor are evident today in the current political context and sharp cultural divisions in society. Philanthropy, Hidden Strategy, and Collective Resistance examines the ideologies behind the philanthropic efforts in education from the 1970s until today. Authors examine specific strategies philanthropists have used to impact both educational policy and practice in the U.S. as well as the legal and policy context in which these initiatives have thrived. The book, aimed for a broad audience of educators, provides a depth of knowledge of philanthropic funding as well as specific strategies to incite collective resistance to the current context of hyperaccountability, privatization of schooling at all levels, and attempts to move the U.S. further away from a commitment to the collective good.

Perfect for courses such as: Critical and Contemporary Issues in Education, Education Policy, Educational Policy Analysis, Social Foundations of Education, Philanthropy, Public Policy & Community Change, Philanthropic Studies, Sociology of Education, Politics of Education, Current Issues in Education, Government and the Mass Media, Polarization of American Politics.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Preface
• 1. Ideology and Education: An Introduction
• 2. “The Haves and the Have Mores:” Fueling a Conservative Ideological War on Public Education (or Tracking the Money)” [reprinted]
• 3. The Haves and the Have Mores”: An Update, 2005–2018
• 4. Citizens United and the Disuniting of the United States
• 5. Hidden Strategies State by State: The History and Work of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), 1973–2018
• 6. Philanthropy Goes to College: Tracking the Money
• 7. Ideological and Philanthropic Bedfellows: Elevating the Individual over the Collective Good in Education
• 8. The Megaphone Behind the Myth: The Media’s Role in Shaping Public Discourse about Education Reform
• 9. Foundry10: A Case of Philanthropy Building School and Community Partnerships
• 10. Collective Resistance: Resources for Change
• About the Authors
• Index