Adam Smith, the author of the Wealth of Nations (the outline for capitalist economies) would be quite perturbed if he saw the state of public schools in our country. Why? Because they go against everything he stood for.
A capitalist economy is based on supply and demand, accountability, and above all humanity's innate greed. Being the antithesis of socialism, where people are supposed to be motivated by promoting the common good, capitalism correctly assumes that an individual's desire for self promotion is usually stronger. So why is our education system based on socialist philosophies, free of competition, or accountability? The public answer we are given is: Because no child can be left behind. But the "simple fact [is] that one of the surest ways to leave a kid "behind" is to hand him over to the government."
"Americans want universal education, just as they want universally safe food. But nobody believes that the government should run 90% of the restaurants, farms and supermarkets. Why should it run 90% of the schools — particularly when it gets terrible results?" Take for example Washington D.C. which spends $12,979 per student per year, but is "last in spending on instruction. Fifty-six cents out of every dollar goes to administrators." Washington D.C. is near the top when it comes to spending on education, but near the bottom when it comes to student performance on standardized tests.
The point made by this article, is that education is a business whether we like it or not. By shutting down public schools and allowing private schools to handle education we will allow the capitalist economy we are a part of to manage the quality and integrity of education. We will provide an atmosphere that rewards results because parents won't send their kids to a low performing school when they have the choice to send them to another.
The government can use the funds it currently spends on students to subsidize education without managing the whole schools system. In addition, the government can use these funds to help level the playing field between the wealthy and socio-economically challenged but first the overall structure must be changed to one that makes business sense.
3 comments:
Great article... thanks for posting!
I don't really understand your last paragraph though... can you please explain your conclusion further?
I adjusted the last paragraph. Let me know if it is clearer now...
Thanks for the update... much clearer. GREAT point. "No child left behind" though conceptually attractive, has failed miserably in reality. I think your point is an important one - if you privatize, you let the marketplace improve the standards of education, rather than relying on an ill-equipped government.
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