Public School and Public Places

Public space encompasses shared space that is owned by the people and is for the people. Public space isn’t necessarily free space in a sense that it is paid for indirectly by everyone however it is not for profit. The space isn’t owned by anyone and used to create a profit for themselves it is for free for people to use. For example, parks are public places without it being a public place it wouldn’t be equally accessed by all people because there would be a cost to use it; additionally, maintenance of the park may not be in the best interest of the natural flora and fauna or the area because it would be for profit. That is why public places are so valuable because they are not for profit; they are not subject to the whim of the market or the control of capitalism. Public places are another aspect out of the binary of market control, unfortunately with a crisis occurs in a public place the government opts to increase capitalistic control. For instance, if a park is unable to operate and sustain itself at the public level them a corporation may step in and take over – then it is no longer public space and open the all people.

Public schools are ultimately valuable because they provide equal educational opportunity to all and teachers can teach what they want and how they feel are best practices, in addition to state standards of course. However If schools become privatized teachers will no longer have that freedom and they will be keep their jobs based on how well they produce. How well they produce college bound students, not by any other measure and curriculums will become narrower and more standardized. Schools in poor communities will go out of business and poor families will be unable to afford a more expensive successful school, thus increasing the achievement gap which the U.S. is trying to decrease. Decreasing the achievement gap will not work by using market logic, public education is a whole other animal altogether and people in power are going to have to think outside of the box and outside of the binary of market and government logic to solve the problems with public education. Let me include that decreasing funding for school will not help to solve the problem either.