In countries and states everywhere, public education is under attack. From school voucher programs to the surging charter school movement, the promises of market competition and choice-based policies are shaking the foundation of public schools as proving grounds for a vital and vibrant democracy. Increasingly, parents and students are encouraged to act as consumers on the educational market, intimating a challenge not only to the democratizing potential of the public school project, but also to the credibility of pedagogical research and knowledge.

In this session, we invited participants to rethink the notion of public education and public knowledge in light of the recent decades’ growing distrust of public schools, government institutions, and academic research. Our hope was to address, in a collective manner, how the influx of corporate, commercial, proprietary, and profit-driven interests are reframing questions of responsibility, (in)equality, knowledge, democracy, transparency, and value in the education sector.