Privatization Report Card: Check Minus

There's an allure to privatize education for two main reasons: 1) to finance education and 2) to fix the broken system. The article from the Chicago-Sun Times talks of this and points to the latter as the main motivator for privatization. What was interesting was that the findings in a new research revealed that public schools did a better job of educating than private schools. We've all heard of how strict requirements lead to a better education in private education and that families that can afford private education are usually the ones attending private schools. But a comparison that included that fact- the affluent vs. the poor- I've never really heard or seen studies/figures before. This article, and source of the article, does just that. One of the statements that really stood out was,

"There's no incentive to design an education that can reach students who are difficult to teach, because there's no profit to be made from teaching poor kids."

This article and study shouldn't be a stop of all privatization, it is simply more to consider in the private/public debate. And that seems to be where I am at with this post and new knowledge. Your thoughts are always welcome.

LINKS:

Privatization is no answer to improving education. [Chicago-Sun Times]

National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education