Business and Education

Last year, I participated in a program in Maryland sponsored by the Maryland Business Roundtable on Education. I thought the program a good idea, since it asked professionals in the area to go into high schools, talk to 9th graders and encrourage them to take on a tough class load as they progress through school. The program showed kids how much it really costs to live in the real world and how their choices as young at 14 or 15 years old can impact their future. Nice program and I was glad to be a part of it.

However, given all the investment in education made by business, I wonder why we have not seen more of an impact. Brett, over at the DeHavilland Blog, compiled a list of recent corporate contributions to education and then wondered why there has been little impact. He offered these possible explanations:

The level of investment isn’t enough to move the needle. Education is a $600 billion juggernaut; putting $2.4 billion into it (0.4% of the total budget, for those of you without a calculator handy) barely makes a ripple.

This investment actually is making a difference – if it weren’t for this investment, we’d actually be in steep decline, and maintaining the status quo with this limited investment is actually an achievement.

The money isn’t being invested strategically. We’re supplementing an existing structure that is not performing, and not taking a seat at the table to redefine desired outcomes and rethinking the ways that we can get there. Using the Titanic as a metaphor (how’s that for leading the reader?), we’re painting the ship as it sinks, not turning the wheel to avoid the icebergs.

We’re wasting a lot of that money through duplicated efforts. There’s no national forum or clearinghouse on business/education partnerships, so we’re all making the same mistakes and not learning from one another’s successes. (This is a personal priority – if anyone wants to talk about changing this, call me.)(changes in format are mine)

Brett then closes with this paragraph:

As I said, I almost hate asking the question – feels like looking a gift horse in the mouth. But the fact is, we’re not moving forward, and the people who dedicate their time and money to education deserve to see results – not just the inevitable anecdotal impact at a school or two, but a meaningful, systemic change that improves the experience and the outcomes of public education.

Here is my thinking, while Business is involved in education and as Brett noted, the involvement is piecemeal and certainly in no way organized, there is a far greater issue than any of the explanations offered by Brett. In reality, education is not nearly the priority business claims it to be. Brett did not compile a full listing of recent activity, but let us assume that the activities he noted comprise 10 percent of the monthly activity done by American Business--that comes to about $24 billion a month and or $288 billion a year (which may be an over estimate). Wal-Mart alone makes more money in a year than that. Thus when compared with the trillions of dollars business makes a year, this is a trivial sum to invest.

But the matter goes far deeper. Everyone complains that big business spends billions of dollars each year on lobbying, but you can bet no real percentage of that lobbying muscle is being applied to education initiatives. Business pays lip service to education, but they won't put their lobbying money where their mouth is. If every science and technology company spent 50% of their lobbying time talking about funding math and science education, you can be sure that real changes would be made.

Finally, there is no incentive for business to really be involved in education. Sure, having a better educated future workforce is a masive plus, but right now business is not encouraged in any way to help with that matter. Here is an idea, for every man-day spent in a classroom actually teaching or helping teachers teach students, business should be able to make a tax deduction of say 3-4 man hours of time. This financial incentive gets businesses moving in the right direction, of investing their time, as well as their money.

My experience was just a few hours spread over several high schools and several day. Imagine if that time was concentrated on 30 kids, once or twice a week for an entire school year. That is a real impact.

Until business makes their "committment" to education a real, demonstrable priority, there is no real need for Brett's clearinghouse of activity or collaborative effort.

Hat Tip: The Carnival of Education