Citation

Blokhuis JC. Am. Educ. Res. J. 2008; 45(2): 343-363.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, American Educational Research Association, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3102/0002831208314870

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

If the notion of public and private spheres seems somehow quaint or old-fashioned, the distinction between public and private corporations will be that much more obscure. Yet Channel One broadcasts in a public school classroom are indisputably the result of a contract between a private corporation (Alloy Media + Marketing) and a public corporation (a local school board). Public school administrators operate within a social and institutional context in which there often appears to be no line between private interests and public interests. The author argues that there is such a line and that public school administrators unwittingly cross it when they make Channel One-type deals. This article examines how the regulatory history of private corporations has shaped the social and institutional context in which public school administrators operate.