Saturday, January 5, 2013

The dangers of ‘outsourcing’ public education

The dangers of ‘outsourcing’ public education:


The dangers of ‘outsourcing’ public education

outsource2The privatization of public education is becoming perhaps the biggest controversy in public education. Here’s a different look at the subject from Larry Cuban, a former superintendent of Arlington Public Schools. Cuban was superintendent for seven years and a former high school social studies teacher for 14 years. He is professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years.
By Larry Cuban
Readers over a certain age may recall reforms that cascaded through corporations in each decade since the 1960s. They might recall “zero-based budgeting,” “management by objectives,” “restructuring,” “management by walking about,” and “Quality  Circles.” Sure, I could name more but that is enough.
Opinion leaders beat the drums for each one as they rapidly spread through The Financial Times, Forbes, The Economist, and other media as CEOs wrapped their tongues around the inevitable acronyms surrounding these reforms.  They were immensely popular for a few