This weeks readings about the education sub-sector of nonprofits was pretty enjoyable actually. I've never really known much about the differences between for profit and nonprofit education so it was a good introduction. Chapter 6 in Nonprofit Nation gave a really good overview of all the different aspects in nonprofit and for profit education. I realized when reading that whenever I've thought of education as a sub-sector of nonprofits, I've only ever thought about higher education and never really thought about elementary or secondary schools as being one or the other. I wasn't surprised to learn that private and independent schools enroll students of various ethnicities. My sister who is a third grade teacher at an independent school in Andover, Mass. has just thirteen students in her classroom, only four of them being white, and the others of asian and middle-eastern influence. The chapter showed me that there is a massive societal impact from nonprofit education, especially the information provided about research institutes. The chapter didn't get into serious detail about this, but I was really interested in the concept of vouchers. I think it's a really complex topic with all of the controversy it stirs up in private religious schools, although combining educational and religious rights in one area is almost inevitably going to be controversial.
The Subprime Opportunity reading gave a great overview of the inefficiency and disadvantages of for profit forms of higher education. After reading it, it was crazy for me to think about the advertisements and all of the hardcore relentless recruitment efforts these for profits have made and then think about their goals as a business rather than an educational resource. In the last twenty years, the for profit universities have grown tremendously, so big that according to the article, some of the biggest for profit universities today enroll more students than the for profit sector as a whole enrolled in 1991. I completely agree that these institutions are only making the poor, poorer, and it's such a shame.
Fed Up at the University of Phoenix made me wonder what an awful trade they are offering- spending tons of money on paying back loans for an education that can't even prepare them for a career they will rely on to pull themselves out of that debt. It's scary how many students enrolled in for profit universities like the University of Phoenix are and will be left at the "what do I do now?" point. The entire concept of for profit universities looking to "put asses in the classes" whether or not both teachers and students are qualified worries me. It makes the idea of higher education nothing but a waste of money for everyone attending for profits.
The "Will the for profit bubble burst in 2011?" article gave the same unfortunate details of for profit universities that the Fed Up article provided. It's good to know these universities are being investigated and that people who know first hand of the situation are opening their mouths about the issue. It seems like some people are cracking down on these schools and are trying to send out the warning signals. The Brief of Benefits of for profit schools made me realize that it's hard for me to defend a for profit school when all of the possible advantages are based on business successes rather than educational successes, or at least that's what it sounds like to me. There are advantages to the for profit schools as a business operation but at some point these operations should ask themselves what the goals of providing higher education really are..
Here's a link to the trailer of a really good documentary called The Lottery which focusses on charter schools. It's about one specific charter school in Harlem, New York and the opposition of unionized public school teachers to the idea of a lottery set up to randomly select children to attend this charter, of which many parents believe can change their children's lives. I saw the documentary with my (elementary school teacher) sister. I recommend it to anyone interested in the heated controversy of charter schools vs. poorly supported, under-funded, rapidly emptying inner city public elementary schools. THE LOTTERY
Jeralyn -
ReplyDeleteAs in most scenarios, I agree: its tough to put business successes over societal benefits. I suppose the argument to this is that business benefits trickle down to societal benefits. But when the benefits are for the rich, who don't need any more benefits, theres a problem.
Jeralyn-
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to never thinking about primary and secondary education in terms of nonprofit and forprofit, I'm the same way. I never thought about the education sector as a branch of nonprofits because I've never thought of schools as being a place to make a profit, especially when so many schools are facing budget cuts and struggle to stay open and running today.
Jeralyn,
ReplyDeleteI was also interested in the idea of vouchers. In my political science class last term we talked about the controversy around them and it seems that they are pretty cool, when they are accepted. Unlike you, I was surprised at first by the diversity in private schools. I didn't ever really include religious schools in the private bunch though, which may be a reason why.
I think that the video you posted, while I couldn't watch it all, was interesting. I think that those that are privileged will always find a way to freeze out those with less privilege, and most often the only argument I hear is that the schools would have to make special arrangements for the students or slow down the curriculum. Government policies that work to integrate schools and student from different backgrounds is a great thing and I also believe that interacting with people from different backgrounds from a young age, will make a huge difference later on and maybe the issues we have with class divide and income will change.