Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS): A phrase created by me to describe a phenomenon taking place across the United States, affecting both privately and publicly funded schools, from Kindergarten all the way through University levels.
United Kingdom news media revealed that Google “…paid millions of dollars to academics at British and American universities for research that it hoped would sway public opinion and influence policy in favour of the tech giant.”
Incomplete list of publicly announced education related layoffs & school shutdowns, July 2017:
After five years Kaplan owned software coding school Dev Bootcamp shutting down all six U.S. campuses: “Despite tremendous efforts from a lot of talented people, we’ve determined that we simply cannot reach a sustainable business model without compromising our mission of delivering a high-quality coding education that remains accessible to a diverse population of students.”
California: Charter school Options for Youth-Victorville shutting down Fontana and Ontario operations, 108 jobs gone by September! Durham School Services issued a layoff WARN for its operations in Hayward, 92 jobs lost by the end of September. Privately run National University admitting that people are radically different by proposing a new form of education; Precision Education. National University is so sure of themselves they’re spending $20-million USD on the project, which will tailor general education classes based on a students situational differences. The sexist women’s only Mills College (they actually have a statue called Power of Women) laid off at least five instructors, due to crashing revenues due to refusing to take in male students. It’s one of 36 U.S. colleges that refuse to allow men as students. A survey in June showed the overwhelming majority of faculty at Mills College wanted to allow male students!
Florida: University of Florida just got a $10-million U.S. federal taxpayer funded grant to experiment with the concept of Precision Education.
Illinois: The Chicago Tribune declared “The politics of education funding in Illinois is truly deranged” In a No-Shit Sherlock! moment, peer-reviewed journal Child Development published a study that concluded that lying to kids about America being a fair country causes them to become violent when they find out the truth. Chicago teacher Xian Franzinger Barrett agreed saying “Students who are told that things are fair implode pretty quickly in middle school as self-doubt hits them, and they begin to blame themselves for problems they can’t control.”
Kentucky: God powerless to stop ‘his’ Nativity Montessori School from shutting down due to The Rapture, I mean crashing enrollments.
Louisiana: Loyola University eliminated 60 jobs despite a 33% increase in enrollment deposits.
Massachusetts: Blame Obama. It was revealed that between 2011 and 2016 that at least 3-thousand-562 state early education programs were shutdown.
Mississippi: University of Southern Mississippi laid off four people and eliminated 33 vacant positions due to a reduction in taxpayer funding.
New York: SUNY Polytechnic Institute suddenly laid off 38 people, apparently in an effort to reduce costs by $10-million USD per year.
Ohio: Columbus based taxpayer funded online Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow eliminating 250 jobs due to crashing enrollments and being caught overcharging customers by a total of $60-million USD!
Oklahoma: Comanche Nation College shutdown by tribal leaders who refused to continue funding it.
Texas: Good or bad news? Lee College Huntsville prison center graduated the largest prison class in its 51 years history, more than 180 prisoners! It’s either a testament to the education program, or a revelation as to how many people are sent to Texas prisons. Texas Education Agency laid off 39 people basically saying the positions were redundant. Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick revealed “Of all the money we spend on education, less than 32% goes to teachers.” The reality is that most of your taxes go to those tax-sucking school administrative bodies.
Washington DC: A Pew Research Center survey showed 58% of republicans now blame higher education for the current state of the Union. This is a big swing from 2010 when 55% of republicans favored higher education. American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten stated “This use of privatization, coupled with disinvestment are only slightly more polite cousins of segregation.” In the name of desegregation the AFT wants to force people to send their children to specific schools, violating a fundamental concept of the United States; freedom of choice.
West Virginia: West Virginia Business College suddenly shutdown saying “It is not financially possible to remain open for the July quarter” due to what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome.
theguardian: Why there’s no such thing as a gifted child
Dumbing Down June 2017: “…YOU HAVE A STORM WARNING.”