For-Profit U.S. Schools Sell Off Their Textbooks
Doug Saunders,
Globe, Mail,
Oct 30, 2002
Though a little after the fact, this article shines some more light on the Edison Schools experiment in Philadelphia. Readers may recall that Edison was the private company hired to manage 25 of Philadelphia's "failing" schools. Edison ran into financial difficulties and, as the story suggests, sold off textbooks and equipment. New to me is this: "Chris Whittle, the company's charismatic chief executive and founder, recently told a meeting of school principals that he'd thought up an ingenious solution to the company's financial woes: Take advantage of the free supply of child labour, and force each student to work an hour a day, presumably without pay, in the school offices." Now I think that the absurdity of forced child labour speaks for itself, but apparently not, as in today's Philadelphia Enquirer is news of a study calling the evaluation of the Edison experiment "inconclusive" (another report here). This, it seems to me, is what happens when you blindly follow a philosophy to its logical absurdity. The Globe and Mail, in the very same edition, but with respect to another issue, baldly asserts that "it's a bad idea for government to dictate strategy for any business." Now I can remain neutral with respect to the issue of bank mergers. But when it comes to staffing schools I would like to suggest that forced child labour is a bad idea and the fact that a private school operator would suggest this in all seriousness shows exactly why governments must from time to time involve themselves in the marketplace, much less closely supervise the education of our children. In yet another article released today, Edison Schools management are trying to reassure Maryland officials, saying that "The company has a very strong balance sheet. ... It has cash on hand" and "We feel fine about the current year we are in." I hate to think what it would take for Edison to say it had a bad year, and I hate to think about what measures it would contemplate if it were in real financial straits.
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