Summary and Double Entry Journal

The Walmarting of American Education

Summary

This article published online on 4th of October 2016 reports that Walmart made public its planned action to close nearly 269 of their retail stores in the month of January 2016. As such, AlterNet’s reporter cautioned that the announcement was only substantial news to small to suburban communities and small towns that the closure affected directly but it failed to get significant media attention. Another crucial report that is evident from this article is that Walton Family Foundation (WFF) made an announcement of a five-year strategic initiative to use billion dollars towards expanding and promoting charter schools situated within 13 United States cities as well as states. To support this report, evidence gathered from Education Week report confirms that WFF embarked on a strategy of doubling its investments in the area of school choice.

            In a similar report of Salon, drawn from Goyal Nikhil’s book section on School on Trial, he wrote on the extent to which “New Markets Tax Credit Program,” which came into force in 2000 through the support of Clinton’s administration. This initiative motivated private investors to invest money in community programs such as the creation of more charter schools, specifically in less economically stabilised communities. In a period of 7 years, such project enterprises are perceived to be capable of generating 39% federal tax break. To attract investors and lenders, the project would see the amount of money put in this investment initiative doubling by the seventh year. Goyal relies on the journalist González Juan’s quotation to make this assertion. 

Double Journal Entry                                                   

            The following table presents the accounts on the “Walmarting American Educatio.”

Sam Walton establishing Walton Family Foundation (WFF) in 1987;  on closer analysis, it is evident that the WFF program is geared towards promoting American public education                             Walmart went public in January 2016 with a planned strategy to shut down 269 of its retail ventures                                   The concern is such that stories on local communities being destabilized by enterprises’ decisions arrived at in distant head offices are recurrent in this era of doing business.     Walmarting of American Education goes public despite insignificant attention of the media               The five-year WFF strategic plan carries certain benefits. The media and the affected communities might not been aware of this at the beginning.                                                                  Sam Walton as its founder started this program in 1987. The purpose of this initiative was not meant for profit making since it was geared to meet the philanthropic demands. Most of this foundation’s money come from Walmart’s generated profits. Business reviews consider Walton’s family as among the richest in the world. In January 2016, the summed net worth of this family was approximated at $ 150 billion. Source:   http://www.alternet.org/education/how-cutthroat-walmart-business-model-reshaping-american-public-education?akid=14059.1078898.bMYE-X&rd=1&src=newsletter1052509&t=2   The article introduces the “Walmarting of American Education” by stating that the public announcement of the closure of its 269 retail stores was to commence in January 2016. By taking a critical look at this intended action, it can be argued that the exercise would pave way for initiating a new program that might take significant amount of expenditure from the retail’s earnings. Nonetheless, the AlterNet’s reporter Jeff Bryant was more sceptical that the announcement never caught the attention of the large stream media as it was only significant in small suburban and small towns that the closure of the determined retails stores would directly affect.   Source:  http://projectcensored.org/20-walmarting-american-education/   Although the story failed to catch significant attention of the media, it is common that most stories on local communities getting devastated because of the decisions made at the far-reached headquarters are common during this era. As such, the media ought to have captured this as a matter of concern. Despite this limited publicity, Bryant recorded that WFF made an announcement to initiate a five-year strategic program to spend billions of dollars towards supporting and promoting charter schools within 13 states and cities in the US. Source: http://projectcensored.org/20-walmarting-american-education/   Evidence gathered from Education Week report shows that within a seven-year period, such project enterprises are perceived to be capable of generating 39% federal tax break. To encourage investors and lenders, the project would see the amount of money put in this investment initiative doubling by the seventh year. More importantly, the affected local communities would benefit since WFF $1 billion investments in the charter schools could reduce education inequality as evidenced in  April 2016 CNBC report. Source:  https://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/30/education-reform-good-politics-good-policy.html