Debating For-Profits: Kudos to Parent Revolution
by Frederick M. Hess • Nov 26, 2012 at 6:24 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
Cross-posted from Education Week
Constructive public debate clarifies, illuminates, and, with any luck, educates. Such debate requires disputants to eschew easy banalities like "education is the new civil right" or ad hominem charges that those they disagree with want to "destroy public education." And it becomes damn near impossible when folks throw around phrases like "child-hating fascist" or accuse each other of nefarious schemes. Yet, it sometimes seems that sophomoric invective has become the norm in the education debates.
That's why I was cheered recently by Parent Revolution's impassioned but thoughtful and courteous response to my critique, in which I'd slammed their desire to prohibit parents who pull the "parent trigger" from partnering with for-profit school operators. Now, don't get me wrong: I think Parent Revolution is incorrect on this. I've long argued that for-profits tend to be uniquely agile, able to scale, and inclined to squeeze costs--traits that are crucial to large-scale school improvement, but also that raise legitimate concerns about quality control and incentives. And they took liberties when they quoted me on the frailties of for-profits without noting
