Marquette’s Education School Supports Terrorist, Anti-Private Schools Organization

From Badger Catholic:

Marquette University, Alverno College, and Mount Mary College are listed as sponsoring the speaking engagement of terrorist Bill Ayers at Stonefly Brewery in Milwaukee.

The host group Rethink Education is like a socialist/communist/activist movement ostensibly for “better” schools (which I think we all agree we need) but that comes at the price of indoctrination; like what they wrote about a teacher coming out as a lesbian to her students.

It’s ironic that Milwaukee Catholic schools are in direct competition with public schools and yet all the Milwaukee Catholic colleges signed on to co-sponsor that event, when Rethinking Schools is anti-private-schools.

The real story here is a bit more complicated, but equally appalling.

The Marquette Education College as a whole did not support the event, but rather only the Educational Policy and Leadership program. Education College Dean William Henk disclaimed any knowledge of the sponsorship, but noted that a particular department or program might have sponsored the event.

Ellen Eckman, Chair of Educational Policy and Leadership, confirmed that her department had ponied up the $250 for the sponsorship.

Eckman, asked whether she was put off by the fact that Ayers is an unrepentant former terrorist, replied that “I see him as an educational professor dealing with reform.” She added “We use a tremendous amount of Rethinking Schools materials. . . .”

Asked whether she saw their agenda as hostile to choice schools or private schools or Catholic parochial schools, Eckman said she didn’t see this as being the case, and that they are “interested in creating really good thoughtful teachers.”

We decided to ask someone who is actually in favor of school choice about this, going to George Mitchell, formerly of School Choice Wisconsin and a long-time pro-school choice activist. His reply:

Rethinking Schools was founded by Bob Peterson, the current president of the MTEA. The publication has contained countless articles over the years condemning school choice. Peterson’s wife, Barbara Miner, has what sometimes seems like a permanent commission from the Crossroads section [of the Journal-Sentinel] for anti-choice articles.

So it seems we have Marquette’s College of Education contributing not merely to an organization that honors an unrepentant terrorist, but one that opposes any competition with government-run schools, including that from Catholic schools.

Welcome to our “Catholic university.”

Eckman said “we’re in there with Mt. Mary and Alverno . . . they sponsored them too.”

This of course, it the argument that no sensible parent will accept from a teenager: everybody is doing it, so it must be fine.

In fact, this just shows that the corruption that afflicts “Catholic” colleges is rather widespread.

Education schools have a symbiotic relationship with the government education monopoly. That monopoly creates a demand for the education credentials that the education schools produce. Deep down, the people who produce those credentials know that a free education market would not value those credentials to nearly the degree that the government monopoly does, and for good reason.

The credentials the education schools provide have little to do with teaching effectiveness.

So as is typical at places like Marquette, if there is a conflict between a Catholic perspective, and secular political correctness, secular political correctness wins. This applies to the gay lobby, and it applies to the Education College.