A Prime Example Of Education Policy Gone Wrong

Bredesen Frustrated by Board of Regents Pace on 'Wal-Mart 101'- By ERIK SCHELZIG | Associated Press Writer

Why a Democrat like Governor Bredesen would choose to re-establish the corrupt links between the high schools/community colleges and industries that operate in an exploitive manner is beyond me. Perhaps the governor has never read Michael Katz's work on the history of higher eduction, or Richard Dorson's The Land of the Millrats, both of which outline the fundamental problems with aligning secondary and post-secondary education with specific skill sets and curriculum for exploitation by specific industries.

So-called "Big Box Retailers," especially Wal-Mart and K-Mart, have a long and well-established history of worker exploitation, including violation of overtime laws, falsely accusing workers of theft (even though there is a lot of insider theft at such places), failure to provide proper breaks and lunch periods, purposefully arranging schedules to avoid allowing workers to establish seniority or preferred scheduling (i.e. Mother's Hours), as well as verbal and psychological abuse from supervisors and managers.

Wal-Mart has made national headlines on its problems adhering to employment and labor laws. K-Mart had such issues hit the papers before it became part of the Sears' family. Back on the east coast--where Bredesen originally hails--there were all kinds of "big box retailers" like Almy's, Rich's, Krazy Eddie's, Ann & Hope, and others that were famous for such abusive and exploitive relations with workers. Even the store-level management did not provide much better treatment. Big box grocery chains from the east coast--like Shaws, Star Market, Stop & Shop, Market Basket, Piggly Wiggly--have had run-ins with unions over the treatment of employees.

So, when I read that Bredesen and the community college governance boards were seeking to develop a "Wal-Mart 101" curriculum, I was confused, shocked and appalled. One would have thought that Bredesen had abandoned the principles of the Democratic Party, support for workers, and joined the GOP's ultra-conservatives. Perhaps he hasn't completely abandoned the party, but has become a "Boll Weevil Democrat" since he moved to the Mid-South? It may be that Bredesen has abandoned no only the Democratic Party's principles, but also any semblance of the Christian teaching offered by St. Paul: "The worker is worth his wages."

In any case, I would recommend that Governor Bredesen, the Board of Regents, and any community college seeking to develop such a curriculum read the following texts:

Sirota, David. "Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back", Three Rivers Press, 2007

Lerner, Michael. "The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right", Harpers - San Francisco, 2006

Dorson, Richard. "The Land of the Millrats", Harvard University Press, 1981

Katz, Donald R. "The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears", Penguin, 1988

Levering, Katz and Moskowitz. "EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS, A Field Guide to the 400 Leading Companies in America", Doubleday, 1990

Katz, Michael B. "Improving Poor People", Princeton University Press, 1997

Katz, Michael B. "The Undeserving Poor", Pantheon, 1990

Katz, Michael B. "The 'Underclass' Debate", Princeton University Press, 1992

Katz, Michael B. "Education in American History: Readings on the Social Issues", International Thompson Publishing, 1973

Katz, Michael B. "The Irony of Early School Reform: Educational Innovation in Mid-Nineteenth Century Massachusetts", Teachers College Press, 2001

Ryan, William. "Blaming the Victim", Vintage, 1976

Quinn, Bill. "How Walmart Is Destroying America And The World: And What You Can Do About It", Ten Speed Press, 2005

Norman, Al. "The Case Against Wal-Mart", Raphel Marketing, 2004

Fishman, Charles "The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy", Penguin, 2006

Ehrenreich, Barbara. "Bait and Switch : The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream", Metropolitan Books (Holt), 2005

Ehrenreich, Barbara. "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America", Holt Paperbacks, 2002

Smith, Hedrick and Young, Rick "Is Wal-Mart Good For America?", PBS Frontline, November 16, 2004"

Goodman, Amy "Chicago's Big box Ordinance", PBS POV/Democracy Now, July 31, 2006

Brancaccio, David. "A Conversation With Barbara Ehrnereich", PBS Now, August 28, 2006

Roman, Raphael Pi (moderator). "The Working Poor In New York City", PBS POV, August 29, 2006

Peled, Micha. "Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes To Town", PBS

Bhatnagar, Parija. "Eminent domain: A big-box bonanza? Court's ruling OKed land grab for business like Target, Home Depot, CostCo, Bed Bath & Beyond", CNN.com (http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/23/news/fortune500/retail_eminentdomain/index.htm)

It's been nearly a year since Gov. Phil Bredesen announced a proposal to create a community college curriculum designed to prepare students to become managers at big-box retailers like Wal-Mart.

Yet there is no sign that any such "Wal-Mart 101" program will be available at two-year schools across the state anytime soon.

Asked in a recent interview with The Associated Press about what the holdup is, Bredesen responded: "The Board of Regents - and the general difficulty of moving things forward in the educational system."

The Board of Regents oversees two-year schools and public universities that are not part of the University of Tennessee system.

"The Board of Regents on that one has not picked up the idea and carried forward on their own in some fashion," Bredesen said.

Bredesen said he prefers state officials to move aggressively on new ideas. He said he'd rather have to tell officials to slow down rather than have to constantly prod them into action.

The governor said that he sometimes has to ask UT President John Petersen to rein in the pace of new programs, but that that rarely occurs with the Board of Regents.

Board of Regents Chancellor Charles Manning could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

Bredesen acknowledged that the Board of Regents may have been distracted by debate during the legislative session over several community-college related subjects like his ultimately doomed proposal to give free tuition to high-school graduates who average a 19 on their ACT college entrance exams. Bredesen has vowed to bring back the community college scholarship proposal next year.

Meanwhile, the state last week announced that as part of Eastman Chemical Co.'s $1.3 billion reinvestment in its Kingsport facilities the state will pour $1 million into tailoring programs at Northeast State Technical Community College to the company's work force needs.

The "Eastman 101" program will address specific job skills for mechanics, lab analysts and chemical operators. The proposal also could benefit other companies in the region because they could hire graduates of the programs.

Although the job training program will be at a Regents college, it won't be available at campuses across the state the way Bredesen envisions the "Wal-Mart 101" program

"We had the opportunity to do the '101' with somebody, so we obviously grabbed that and took it," Bredesen said. "The other one (for big-box retailers) I'm still interested in and we're still pushing for it."