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These billionaire brothers are apart of the second wealthiest family in America, and are worth $80 billion. They influence politics in many ways on top of their donations through the Koch Foundation. They created many nonprofit groups that control money in politics that try to reshape it to their agenda (Benac, 2014):
-reducing regulations
-advancing libertarian ideas
-promoting free- market Republican candidates

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(TestTube News, 2015)

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What Do Billionaires Really Want in Politics? http://testu.be/1t9GH46 Subscribe! http://bitly.com/1iLOHml Over past election cycles, the Koch brothers have funneled millions of dollars into U.S. politics. So how powerful are the Koch Brothers? Learn More: Charts: How Much Have the Kochs Spent on the 2012 Election?

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- A well-known philanthropist, he is a big donor to Lincoln Center and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Koch ran as the Libertarian Party's vice presidential candidate in 1980 ("Forbes Welcome", 2017)
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialDavidKoch

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- Charles Koch attended George Mason University. This school receives the most funding from the brothers today
-Charles is the recipient of an honorary doctorate in science from the university and is a director of the university-based Mercatus (market) Center (Levinthal, 2015)
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialCharlesKoch

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Where does the money come from?
- Inherited their father’s company, and turned Wichita-based Koch Industries> second-largest privately held company in the nation
-Products including:
Dixie cups, chemicals, jet fuel, fertilizer, electronics, toilet paper, etc (Benac, 2014)

Where does the money go?
- Fund higher education programs as a “fully integrated” part of a massive organizational network fighting to enact deregulation government policies and elect conservative political candidate (Levinthan, 2015)

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(Bennet, 2012)

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Myth number 50:
"The schools are wasting their time trying to teach problem solving, creativity, and general thinking skills; they would be better off teaching the facts students need to succeed in school and later in life" (Berliner and Glass, 2014)

The Koch brothers have been pulling money out of public education for years and wanting the government to do the same as them. They are dumping more money into colleges because they want to spread their ideology to students.
(Wilkie & Resmovits, 2014). The ideas and standards that they support are that students need to be trained in entrepreneurial tactics and need to learn leadership in business. Overall, they support this myth of just straight teaching them for jobs and specialization.

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- Funding to colleges and specific economic studies pitched by themselves
- "is eroding a fundamental aspect of higher education: academic freedom"
- David Koch has put in millions to the arts and medicine programs impacting the stability of these programs in some colleges
- They are known for having strings attached to their funding (Seen listed below) and therefore their impact is connected to controversy and a lot of media coverage at times (Levinthal, 2015)

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- Pledged $1.08 million
- created the John H. Schnatter Institute for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise
- Alongside John Schnatter Foundation, (CEO of Papa Johns)
- Integrate entrepreneurial studies by assisting with expenses for the new institute’s programs and salaries of staff members
- Has to approve Annual Yearly Progress Report for donations to continue
("Kochs Spend Big To Promote Their Agenda At Ball State University", 2016)

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“We have autonomy in who we hire and how we run the institute and its programs" -Michael Goldsby

- Transparency issues in question: resignation of former President Paul W. Ferguson

"When one of the world's wealthiest families and business networks invests more money than you or I may ever see in our entire lives to public colleges, that should give us pause for thought" -Joseph Knoop
(Kirkman, 2016)

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- Employ 100,000 workers globally
- Partnership with the United Negro College Fund has resulted in a $25 million grant aiding African- American's in college
- Sponsor the Special Olympics
- $230,000 to emergency response organizations
- $1.2 billion to cancer research, medical centers, educational institutions, arts and cultural institutions, and to assist public policy organizations (Leon, 2014)

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- Control over curriculum
- Obtaining personal information about students
- Teachings tend to align with the libertarian economic philosophy of Charles Koch
- Maintain partial control over faculty hiring (Levinthal, 2015)

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What do the Koch Brothers believe the purpose of education is?

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What do the Koch Brothers believe the purpose of education is?

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- Spread a diversity of ideas so that students can think outside of the box and strive for the discovery of ideas in order to be more successful in life.
- Politically involved. They want to promote their philosophies of free markets and laissez-faire capitalism in the United States to students.
- Center For Public Integrity: “Reinvigorate the teaching of America’s founding principles and history”- David Levinthal

Therefore, it can be said that they believe the purpose of education is to put in the minds of students their libertarian and conservative ideology and prepare them for business/ entrepreneurship economics in order to help them contribute to society. All while aiding their own foundation and political agenda (Levinthal, 2014)

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Who do the Koch Brothers think is sitting in the classrooms of America?

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Who do the Koch Brothers think is sitting in the classrooms of America?

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Based on the action's of the Koch Brothers, they focus heavily on aiding college students, not public schools. They believe that public education should be a choice and that government is taking away that advocacy. They want the students in American classrooms to support their ideology and be less diverse. Some believe they want to dismantle the public school system or even re-segregate schools. Their image of students in the classroom also includes seeing students as potential entrepreneurs (Levinthal, 2014)

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How do the Koch Brothers want us to prepare our students for the 21st-century democracy and competitive global economy?

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How do the Koch Brothers want us to prepare our students for the 21st-century democracy and competitive global economy?

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From Koch High: How The Koch Brothers Are Buying Their Way Into The Minds Of Public School Students:
- Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) program's mission: to provide students with real business experience.
- Students have free choice separate of government in education
- Their preparation of students for the competitive global economy is prioritized over there beliefs towards the 21st-century democracy
- Do not want standards in the classroom, federal funding for education, or the leftward tilt of legislation regarding schools.

“We need to explain that we are part of a group that trains non-profit leaders and we are interested in working to improve economic education" (Wilkie & Resmovits, 2014).

Overall, the Koch Brothers wish for more think tanks, extrinsic motivation, teacher seminars and to fund more university programs in order to better prepare students, and even teachers for the future.