‘School of Choice’: Who Will Win, and Who Will Lose?

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos at CPAC 2017 Feb 23rd 2017″ by Michael Vadon licensed under CC BY 2.0

Source: The Atlantic

Arizona recently passed a policy in favor of “school of choice” – which would allow students who withdraw from public school education to channel their share of state funding for the education of their choice, including for private institutions or online education.

The decision branches from a wider neoliberal movement, founded on the principles of free-market.

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has run with the neoliberal approach of creating a market for education, arguing that “[The] public-school system needs to be reengineered by the government to mimic a market,” otherwise the education system is principally run by the government.

This mentality “ignores the political ramifications of the marketization of shared goods like the educational system,” reported The Atlantic.

There are markets that will win and will thrive, and there are ones that will lose and shut down.

If public schools start to “lose” because enough students are withdrawing to use their share of state funds at private education institutions, then low-income students that cannot afford to go to private institutions are losing too. Meanwhile, private institutions are enjoying taxpayer money.

Already in Detroit, where DeVos was a firm advocate and key player in introducing “school of choice” to the city, several public schools have shut down and those who have been most impacted by the legislation are the poor, and those who have benefited are the rich.

Read full story at: The Atlantic

Education, News
Education, News