Cloudy with a Chance of Swedish Meatballs
The totally true, tragicomic and almost-certain-to be-ignored cautionary tale of Sweden’s 30 year experiment with privatizing education…
Pack your bags, reader, and prepare to stow your winebox in the overhead compartment. We’re headed on an adventure of the international variety. Our destination: Sweden—the nation that brought us free love, ready-to-assemble furniture and aquavit—is also home to a 30-year-experiment with skola privatisering, or as we call it, excellence enhancement through the magic of the market. How are things going in Sweden these days? Funny you should ask…
ChoicecapadesFirst stop on our Swedish adventure: a little trip down memory lane, or minneslanen as they say in Uppsula. Way back in the 1990′s Swedish parents were given vouchers to pay for the school of their choice. In other words, the kronafollowed the child. And just to make sure that choosy parents had enough choice to choose from, the Swedes allowed private schools for the first time and allowed the schools to make a profit. Fast forward to the future, otherwise known as today, and more than 25% of secondary students in Sweden