Assault on Kids: How Hyper-Accountability, Corporatization, Deficit Ideologies, and Ruby Payne are Destroying Our Schools (Counterpoints)

Hyper-accountability, corporatization, deficit ideology, and Ruby Payne’s preparation of teachers to comply with these and other atrocities are not merely markers of philosophical shifts in education. They are manifestations of a neoliberal remaking of public schooling into a private and corporate enterprise. Collectively, these trends are seen not just as an imposition, but as an assault on quality pedagogy; an assault on democratic ideals of equity and social justice; and an assault on kids compelled to participate simply because they are public school students. This edited collection is a response by critically-minded educators, activists, and scholars – both a reaction to and a call to action against these vilifications. It is critical reading for students, professors, administrators, and policy makers involved in public education.

Roberta Ahlquist has been a professor at San Jose State for over 30 years, supervising prospective high school teachers. Her areas of research include critical race theory, unlearning racism, critical multicultural education, indigenous education, and postcolonial studies.
Paul C. Gorski is the founder of EdChange and an assistant professor in integrative studies at George Mason University, where he teaches classes on social justice education, economic justice, environmental justice, and animal rights. He has published three books and more than 30 essays on these topics in Educational Leadership, Teachers College Record, Teaching and Teacher Education, Rethinking Schools, Teaching Tolerance, Equity & Excellence in Education, Intercultural Education, and Multicultural Education.
Theresa Montaño is an associate professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at California State University Northridge. She teaches courses to prospective teachers in the area of equity and diversity in school, Chicano/a childhood and adolescence, and research in Chicano/a education. Her areas of research include the schooling of Chicano/a-Latino/a students; critical pedagogy; teacher activism; and bilingual/ELL instruction.