PHOTO BY KAMERA KIZI (CC BY 2.0)

The September-October 2015 issue of Academe magazine begins with two articles focusing on disturbing trends in public education. Both articles point to increasing private sector influence as a threat to the integrity of public education.

In an essay adapted from his address at the AAUP’s 2015 annual meeting, journalist Juan González argues that public education is under assault by efforts to overturn the progressive reforms of the 1960s. As a self-proclaimed “recovering revolutionary” who has covered the news for thirty-seven years, González sees the current threats to education in the broader political context of a “fight for the public commons.” You can read “A Journalist’s View of the Assault on Public Education” on the AAUP website.

Steven C. Ward’s article offers a compelling analysis of the impact of federal K-12 initiatives such as No Child Left Behind, the Race to the Top, and the Common Core on higher education. He already sees signs of an increasing “high-schoolization of the university” that will have a disproportionate effect on middle- and lower-income students in public institutions. You can read “No Child Left Behind Goes to College” on the AAUP website.

Articles from the current and past issues of Academe are available online. AAUP members receive a subscription to the magazine, available both by mail and as a downloadable PDF, as a benefit of membership.