Education and Capitalism: How Overcoming Our Fear of Markets and Economics Can Improve America's Schools

by Herbert J. Walberg and Joseph L. Bast

Book Overview

"Unless popular myths about capitalism are challenged, school reform will stall well short of success."
--From the introduction to Education and Capitalism

"This is a thoughtful, thorough examination of the virtues of capitalism and free markets as a way to organize elementary and secondary education in a democracy."
--Milton Friedman Senior research fellow, Hoover Institution Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences

For...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0817939725
• ISBN13: 9780817939724
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Hoover Institution Press
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive Defense of School Choice (A teacher's review)

"Education and Capitalism" is primarily a comprehensive economic and political defense of the idea of restructuring public education in a market-based way. Whether through tax credits (allowing parents to receive a large tax write-off for sending children to private schools) or vouchers (where all parents recieve a government 'credit' to be used towards education in a free market), Walberg and Bast use hard statistics and economic analysis to persuasively argue why a market-based education system would be superior to our current one. The book is divided into four sections: (1) The Need for School Reform (which statistically shows that, and why, schools are consistently failing to meet expectation, (2) Can Captitalism Be Trusted (A defense of capitalism as a system and rebuttal or common misunderstandings often heard about capitalism) (3) Schools and Capitalism (A positive statement of how market principles would spur compeitition, increase efficiency, and localize accountability so that schools are more responsive) (4) Doing It Right (consisting of proposals about how to construct a voucher system that is both fair and viable) This book will certainly be beneficial for both those who are skeptical about a market-based approach to education and those who already believe in a market-based approach but are at a loss for how to properly defend it to naysayers. The book is long and thorough (343 pages) but concise and readable. Each chapter finishes with a list of recccomended readings, all advocating a free-market approach but exploring the chapter's subtopic in more detail. The only criticism that I can offer is that as comprehensive as the book is, it is limited to an economic defense of vouchers. There are many pedagogical and philosophical reasons to support vouchers that are not gone into. As an educator, for instance, I am very flustered by the "one size fits all" approach to education, recognizing that parents should have the choice to send children to the type of school that meets their needs (Montessori, disciplinarian, arts school, etc.) Trying to teach every kind of student the same way via a public school model is the equivalent, to me, of giving everyone the same government-run healthcare plan regardless of their actual medical needs (or government-created car, regardless of their driving habits and styles). That said, "Education and Capitalism" is an excellent book about an excellent and timely idea. Let's hope it takes (and that the NEA doesn't find out).

Excellent

The reason schools are failing is the same reason why everything else is failing in america. It is the gradual departure from capitalism to socialism. This book does a good job at teaching basic economics(although it is not the book I would recommend for this purpose, see Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt) , abolishing the myths commonly attributed to capitalism, and showing how capitalism applied to education is in everyone's best interest. It is packed with the latest statistics like $7,079 per student per year is the national average spent on education. If you know anything about real economics you will see many mentions and the advice of many other real economists like the Austrians... Just a great book.

Well-written, informative, and packed with information

This book is written clearly and concisely to be readily accessible to the lay reader but it contains such a wealth of well-framed arguments and exposition in its 362 pages that it also could be seen serving as a college-level text.The authors argue that choice-based reform of K-12 education is likely to founder unless popular myths about capitalism are challenged. If reformers and the general public do not possess a broader understanding of how and why markets work, the baby steps that are currently being taken towards school reform will not develop into the adult strides required for K-12 education to deliver superior performance.After detailing the shortcomings of the present K-12 school system, the authors explain how a capitalist school system would work. They then take an extensive detour into economics and capitalism to explain what capitalism is and how its principles would be applied to K-12 education.A very informative chapter is devoted to debunking myths about capitalism. The authors also effectively dispose of many of the arguments against school choice that are raised by opponents.