NationStates Jolt Archive

What's wrong with privatizing the education system? The main problem with the current system is lack of competition, which leads to stagnation and low academic standards. If schools are privatized, then there will be more of an incentive for schools to become better, teach more, hire better teachers, etc., which will in turn lead to a more educated populace.

Actually, you could just reform it and make it proper and be even better.

What's wrong with privatizing the education system? The main problem with the current system is lack of competition, which leads to stagnation and low academic standards. If schools are privatized, then there will be more of an incentive for schools to become better, teach more, hire better teachers, etc., which will in turn lead to a more educated populace.

So what about those who can't afford it?

I know, I'm just using it to make a point.

(Thinks to himself)
Man, I'm really saying a lot of stupid crap these days.

Fair enough then :) No harm no foul, forgive and forget etc etc. And don't worry - we all have days/weeks/periods of time like that. Most of my life in fact.

Actually, you could just reform it and make it proper and be even better.

But the government has no reason to make it better. The amount of money spend on schooling outweighs the amount of returns you get on it. If it is reformed, the government loses out, so the government does not have any reason to make school as good as it can be. A private company, however, does have a reason to make schooling better -- more people will attend, and they will get more money. The companies win because they make more money and the individual wins because he can choose from a wider variety of schools, which will be better than government-funded ones.

So what about those who can't afford it?

The government could give each person $5000 to spend only on education so that there is a minimum standard of education for all.

The government could give each person $5000 to spend only on education so that there is a minimum standard of education for all.

As opposed to simply taking, say, £5000 out of their tax money and putting it towards state education? In fact, considering the condition of many state schools it's probably considerably less than that, so there is, by your rationale, considerable room for improvement without even approaching the expenses of an entirely privatised system.

What's wrong with privatizing the education system? The main problem with the current system is lack of competition, which leads to stagnation and low academic standards. If schools are privatized, then there will be more of an incentive for schools to become better, teach more, hire better teachers, etc., which will in turn lead to a more educated populace.
Good points all around

As opposed to simply taking, say, £5000 out of their tax money and putting it towards state education? In fact, considering the condition of many state schools it's probably considerably less than that, so there is, by your rationale, considerable room for improvement without even approaching the expenses of an entirely privatised system.

I was just giving an example. The amount of money could be significantly less than that. In fact, there does not need to be any money at all and poor people can go to schools that do not have a high admission fee or get a scholarship. The point is that if the government is responsible for education, it has little reason to invest a lot of money in education because it will get no returns -- tax money paid towards schools is constant, regardless of how good schools are. The government does not need to improve schooling to get more attendees. Private schools do, however. Their success is measured by how good their teachers and such are, and their success translates into more money for them. They do have an incentive to improve schooling, as opposed to the government. If you privatize schooling, it will undoubtedly get better.

I was just giving an example. The amount of money could be significantly less than that. In fact, there does not need to be any money at all and poor people can go to schools that do not have a high admission fee or get a scholarship. The point is that if the government is responsible for education, it has little reason to invest a lot of money in education because it will get no returns -- tax money paid towards schools is constant, regardless of how good schools are. The government does not need to improve schooling to get more attendees. Private schools do, however. Their success is measured by how good their teachers and such are, and their success translates into more money for them. They do have an incentive to improve schooling, as opposed to the government. If you privatize schooling, it will undoubtedly get better.

But the government does get a massive bonus out of improved education! Think about it - a better educated populace leads to a better employed and therefore better paid populace. If everyone is making more money the government gets more tax. Benefit methinks. Education should be one of every government's highest priorities, and not just because it is one of the fundamental human rights. For once I agree with Tony Blair - social welfare and reform, including education, is one of the most important, possibly the most important thing a government can wish for.

But the government does get a massive bonus out of improved education!

Yes, but they also benefit if they keep everybody dumb. I mean, more people would join the military and accept whatever the government told them instead of questioning it. Blind patriotism could be strongly encouraged in schools. And anyway, the people can get better education in the colleges if they want. That's where all the highly skilled workers come in.

Not really. You get out of an education what you put into it. Some of the best people in the world came from public schools.
Yeah Right. I say abolish oublic schools. They just dont work.

I don't like the kind of extremist libertarlian rhetoric that wants to minimize all social programs no matter what.

I doubt anything I say will change the mind of an extremist libertarian, (Because they tend to believe that anybody who doesn't agree with them just isn't as informed as them), but here's my take, which I consider to be obvious.

If education were privatized, it would be slightly more efficient. But it'd have the tradeoff of making good education selectively available to only upper middle class and upper class kids. And colleges will start looking at the better, more expensive schools as better on the resume. And all the money most taxpayers would save on public school would go right into...yep, private school! And education is a necessity good so they could charge extremely large amounts of money for it. And, some parents would elect not to send their children to school, keeping them on the streets, raising crime rates, and at most these children will get vocational education and we'll see a re-birth of apprenticeships and people who can only do one thing and that's it.

And, oh yeah. Because people would be less educated on average, productivity would go down, and the economy would go into serious recession 20 years from now, and we'd wind up completely noncompetetive. We'd lose all the money we saved on taxes anyway because that money wouldn't exist.

Message to extremist libertarians: Yes, it is true that in some idyllic, mathematical cases, the private sector operating without government control can handle the economy a lot more efficiently. That doesn't mean you overgeneralize it to obvious exceptions, such as necessity goods and anything with large enough barriers to entry. At the very least, open your mind to the possibility that there exist situations that your overly dogmatic interpretation of modern economic theory doesn't apply to.

And, oh yeah. Because people would be less educated on average, productivity would go down, and the economy would go into serious recession 20 years from now, and we'd wind up completely noncompetetive.

How do you figure? Privatizing schools would increase the standard of education. A very low percantage of people would not be able to afford basic education. Those people would be able to perform menial jobs, such as janitors or garbage men. Somebody needs to do them. Of course, that problem could be done away with by giving everybody $500 a year or such to spend only on education. The ones that go to private schools would get better educations than those that go to the current public schools. It will make us more educated and more competitive on average, not less. And not everybody who supports privatizing schools is libertarian, btw.

Personally, I find that the sole difference in terms of personality in a grammar school is the arrogance of the pupils (me encorporated in that). However, I daresay you are a remarkably rare exception to a rule that is, statistics prove, remarkably pervasive.
It might just be my area of course (And I did have to take the test 4 times, I was 1% out each time. I did well on the writing test but the other test I failed. I'm dislexic, i don't know my left and right so when the questions are-rotate this 90 degrees right i failed)