The Privatization Movement Is not Dead! A Book Review of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School

Authors

Jeffrey Frenkiewich, University of New HampshireFollow

Abstract

In January of 2020, Diane Ravitch published Slaying Goliath, in which she claimed the movement to privatize America’s public school system was dying. While this might be true, the movement is not dead, and this review looks at Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire’s A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, which examines the history of school privatization and calls for renewed vigilance by those who oppose it. Schneider and Berkshire argued that defenders of public education need three conceptual frames to fight privatization efforts: (a) a clear presentation of the aims and objectives of the privatization movement; (b) knowledge of the core policies of the privatizers’ efforts; and (c) a prospective view of the future of education if privatizers gain are successful. Schneider and Berkshire provided sufficient evidence to support these three objectives. However, while they make a valuable contribution to the discourse defending public education, they did not do enough to address the embedded racism undergirding the privatization movement; this review suggests further readings on that topic. That criticism aside, Schneider and Berkshire stated that the intention of their book is to “scare people” into continued vigilance against the privatization movement. Job done.

Recommended Citation

Frenkiewich, J. (2021). The Privatization Movement Is not Dead! A Book Review of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School. Democracy and Education, 29 (2), Article 8.
Available at: https://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol29/iss2/8