You can just hear Alex Usher gushing as he interviews s Nicolas Badré, Chief Operating Officer of the Galileo Group, a private company that operates "70 prestigious schools across 20 countries and 120 campuses." Usher asks, "why would so many people choose to pay for education when they don't have to?" Badré responds by talking about employability, student experience, and a "values-based dimension" focusing on "innovation, entrepreneurship, and high standards." It's the same sort of answer we get from private hospitals in the U.S. My (more honest) response to such a question would be: marketing, networking and elitism. It's the creation of a two-tier system to confer power and prestige. It's people paying for a Hermès education (also available in France) and the way the handbag becomes a social cue. Plus: Usher also features prominently in a University Affairs article where he notes, correctly, that "It has become starkly apparent that many critics of EDI in the United States aren't just opposed to diversity initiatives — they're opposed to civil rights. There is no presumption of good faith in these debates." But it's the challenge of our age, isn't it: how can you maintain support for things like equity, diversity and inclusion when you undermine institutions, like public education?
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