"the bourgeois is a bourgeois-- for the benefit of the working class."  Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto

Within this one phrase is an argument used in countless situations when one group is oppressed by another.  It calls to mind the rationalization of slavery in the 1850s and of racism for long afterward.  Marx and Engels use it in reference to the oppression of the proletariat by the bourgeois.  It is used to defend today's school system.  

This argument rationalizes oppression by claiming the oppressors oppress to help the oppressed.  Yes, this is rather counterintuitive.  Yet this argument is still being used today even while it has been proved false in other circumstances.

In explanation of my comment referring to America's schools, I would ask you to examine the language used in debates about schools and school reform.  No matter what position is held and what action is taken, it is always for the sake of the children.  However, how can contradicting views both claim to support and care for the students?  Furthermore, how can a system that was not designed with the well-being of students as its primary goal now be defended in such a manner?  

Elementary schools were originally designed to educate a future work force.  Long hours spent sitting at desks, often doing repetitive work, was supposed to prepare children for life in a factory.  High schools, on the other hand, were used to keep adolescents out of the work force to keep unemployment down as workers began to live longer, more productive lives.  True, adjustments have been made as times have changed and high school has become an important step towards further education for some students, but the framework remains the same.  The design of the school system was meant to create a proletariat, but as America is a capitalist society, that is hardly in the best interest of its students.  

The argument for oppression for the sake of the oppressed is nothing more than politicalized hypocrisy.  Ideally, we wouldn't have to shroud our motives in lies to get ideas heard.  Motives may be completely valid, but unless they are follow the "for the sake" formula, they are not politically correct enough to get positive attention.  When honest motives and their ideas are heard, democracy will be able to develop beyond the overly political state it is in.