Any 'marketplace' in education would be a contest of public relations not of
benefit(s): a matter of "presentational value" only as I posited in my
half-baked hypothesis of learning in human networks from our discussion on
hype many moons ago. But the 'invisible hand' of capitalism vs. the
'invisible mind' of statist bureaucracy is a false dichotomy in any case.
A great deal of important background on this subject can be found in
Lawrence Cremin's extensive historical trilogy on education in the United
States. It's still one of the best in my opinion. He ended the third book of
his trilogy with the argument that there had been three abiding
characteristics of education in the United States throughout its history:
popularization (the tendency to provide wide access), multitudinousness (an
expanding array of institutions of access), and politicization (the effort
to solve certain social problems indirectly through education rather than
directly through politics). These three strands, operating in tandem,
uniquely mark education in the United States and have been associated with
some of its most formidable achievements even as they have created some of
its most intractable problems (see Cremin, L. A. (1990). Popular Education
and its Discontents. New York: Harper & Row for a more accessible account)
Regards, Rolfe
R. Windward
Dept. of Education, Lindsey Wilson College
windward who-is-at lindsey.edu
"We know more than we can say" -M. Polanyi