Marketization in Education: Looking Back to Move Forward with a Stronger Critique

Abstract

Fifty years from now, when historians look back at the current era of educational policy making, they will no doubt see the many similarities between the present period and the first two decades of the 20th Century when policy makers and business leaders tried to make public schools more businesslike and efficient. Today, the optimal term for school reform driven by a business model is ‘‘market- ization.’’ And while there are some important differences between then and now, much of the underlying sentiment is the same – public schools need to be more efficient, competitive, accountable, and more like private businesses than demo- cratic institutions.