Week 3 - Regine Amparo - A03

The conflict in "Why We Should Fear University, Inc." by Fredrik deBoer discusses the corporatization of universities, resulting in the disconnect between administrators, students, and teachers. The creates an environment where everyone involved is on high alert with everyone trying to survive in this corporate system.  When students and teachers realize the very institutions that they participate in view them as expendables, they start to mistrust the administrators who run the institutions. With an imbalance of power and money going towards administrators, it is inevitable that students and teachers will retaliate.

In current events, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is also experiencing a similar conflict, illustrating that this unjust system can also occur in public lower education institutions. LAUSD is one of the biggest school districts in California, so they should be receiving huge amounts of funding to support their large school populations. However, administrators and others who possess higher positions in the district do not consider the growing school population size or low socioeconomic status of the students. The disconnect between the administrators and the teachers have led to difficulties for the teachers to teach and make genuine connections with their student in a class with almost 50+ students. Since the students are still too young to stand up for themselves, teachers are forced to stand up for them and also for themselves through protests.

Question: Have you heard about the LAUSD protests and what are your opinions?

References:
deBoer, F. (2015, September 9). Why We Should Fear University, Inc. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/why-we-should-fear-university-inc.html
Vogel, R. (Photographer). (Photograph of LAUSD protests). Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/01/21/lausd-schools-open-tomorrow-teacher-strike-update-over-negotiations/2620168002/