On a number of occaisions, I have suggested that school systems should be considering modeling many of their management practices on business models. Almost everytime I do so, I get the complaint that we cannot treat kids like toasters or someother manufactured item. Of course, I am fully cognizant of the difference between a individual child and a mass manufactured item as well as the challenge of teaching hundreds of thousands of distinct individuals.
But why is it when school choice advocates and school reform advocates such as myself mention business management as a model, everyone assumes the only business worth emulating is a manufacturing business? Millions of businesses in this country and around the world are focused on providing a service. Many of them have distinct measurement tools to determine if their business model is successful or not.
Schools are in the information business, they are in the service sector and yet most of them couldn't measure their efficiency or efficacy with any degree of reliability or accuracy. Why is it then that the application of business management techniques for the services and information sectors can't or aren't applied to schools? Fear of the consequences and results is one reason. I am sure there are others.
Finally, why is it that people in this country fully endorse our system of higher education, which is based completely on a market economy, including the states as market particiapnts, but cannot accept a similar model in k-12 education? That remains the great mystery.
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