Privatizing Teaching
Latest news from the Mitten State: Legislators propose privatizing teaching. Lots of ways to accomplish this, including designating Michigan a "right-to-teach" state, preserving the right to collectively bargain for police, firefighters and private-industry unions, but making teacher unionizing illegal.
The idea of hiring free-lance "teacherpreneurs" is thrilling to management types-- they picture savvy school principals and superintendents sorting through crates of top-notch applications, a la Zeke Vanderhoek. What an exciting decision: whether to go with the gung-ho Harvard grad who's willing to teach 200 kids now that the contractually mandated cap of 150 is gone--or should they take the newly trained, in-state teacher so desperate for a job she'll agree to reduced starting salary and advising the junior class?
Starting an on-line "credit recovery" program for kids who've dropped out might be another way to turn an ordinary public school district into a lucrative business venture. In fact, once we've dropped the facade of being a publicly