Education
Rebuttal: Education and the State
My last two posts (here, here) on the role of the state in providing education and conversely questioning that of the private sector, resulted in some very illuminating responses from both sides of the spectrum. As a result, I will soon followup with an additional post highlighting previously unaddressed issues in this debate (and welcome other contributions).
It is worth mentioning that some of the comments came from a very unlikely source – the E.G. West Centre at the University of Newcastle. For those unaware, the Centre is led by Prof. James Tooley who has done by far the most work on privatization of education, and is currently also President of the Education Fund at Orient Global. I have a lot of respect for his work in the trenches of urban poverty. So it is disappointing that some comments initially led me to believe that even questioning his hypothesis was seen by the Centre as a personal affront. In followup email communication though Dr. B. M. Craven was kind enough to provide substantial references in support of his argument. I will look at each of these to see if they address or counter the issues previously presented and provide them here as a possible rebuttal to my article (you decide).
- Video links on the E.G.West website. In particular, the following seem relevant
- Private Education is Good for the Poor: A Study of Private Schools Serving the Poor in Low-Income Countries (Cato Institute paper)
Simultaneously, Dr. Craven also said he would “be glad to read any research which supports your thesis which you can recommend.”
While some data was presented in the last post, it is true that there has been little research that makes a case for public education. Of course, these days proposing any role for the State is fraught with risk but I’d still like to throw down the gauntlet to the readers.
Can you refer to any empirical studies that look at the benefits of education in a public setting and/or the failings of a private school system?
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2 comments for “Rebuttal: Education and the State”
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There is definitey no personal affront taken in questioning any of my hypotheses about the role of the state in education! Apologies if some of my colleagues may have given that impression.
[...] an overview of recent discussions on this debate and further references, see a prior post Rebuttal: Education and the State. For a more comprehensive assessment, see the Annual Status of Education Report [...]