The Gift of Education / Education, Politics and Public Life (PDF)

KENNETH SALTMAN is Associate Professor of Education at DePaul University, USA.

"Philanthropy and commodification are not a set of abstract changes 'out there' that have little or nothing to do with our daily practice, our pedagogy, our social relationships. They are increasingly 'in here' in our heads and in our classrooms. They are impinging more and more on what we do and who we are. . . Educational researchers and practitioners at all levels need to address themselves to these new realities and take up a position in relation to them. Saltman's book will help. It is informative, provocative, accessible and very, very topical."

- Pedagogy, Culture, and Society

"The Gift of Education is at the same time a critique of philanthropy and of K-12 education in the United States. Saltman shows how new trends in philanthropic behavior are undermining both philanthropy and the democratic core of public education.He argues thatill-considered corporate/commercial attitudes constitute a neo-liberal attack upon public education, an approach unhappily fostered by the new Obama administration.Those of us who think that public education lies at the core of truly democratic behavior ought to take this book seriously." - Stanley N. Katz, Professor and Director, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

"If you care about the survival of public education, you need to know about the market forces intent on its destruction. Through an incisive examination of the neoliberal agenda of redistributing the economic and cultural control of schools, Saltman delivers the goods. In calling out outfits like the Gates Foundation, who are using diverted public funds to bankroll their agenda of proclaiming that the quality of education can be reduced to student test scores, Saltman shows us why the very fiber of democracy is at stake." - Susan Ohanian, longtime teacher, maintains a website of resistance to corporate-politico destruction of public schools