Let market rules apply to schools

It is long past time that we had a minister who recognised that quality education costs far more than what schools can get from the state and from state-set tuition fees. As Harvard president Derek Bok noted, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”

But I disagree with his plan to legalise the acceptance of “tea money,” because as the saying goes, “He who pays the piper calls the tune,” and there’d be tremendous pressure on schools to admit a donor’s child even if he was not really qualified, dragging academic standards down.

Instead, the minister should apply free market principles to schools. First, let buyers (parents) know what they’re purchasing by posting each school’s average scores on the O-NET and other tests of quality, each faculty member’s academic credentials, their average teacher/student ratio, special classes available, number of books in the library, etc, on his ministry’s website, so that they’ll be informed purchasers. Then, let each school charge what the market will bear – with the condition that the school must have enough financial aid available for any student needing it, for up to half of each entering class. Admission would be need-blind until financial aid for that year ran out.

Burin Kantabutra