Public Schools.

Essay by vkg23 February 2004

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Our society, as a whole, has been heading toward a decentralized system of conducting its affairs. Large corporations have been getting larger , meanwhile governments have been giving up increasing amounts of their control. This decentralization has affected even former mainstays of government control, such as phone and power companies. As decentralization becomes more of a reality, there has been a great deal of debate over what controls the government should maintain or relinquish. The public school system has long been a source of frustration. Many feel the schools would be run more efficiently and with better results if privately run companies were to take over. They feel that with the existing large, encumbering bureaucracy, the government is simply unable to provide the proper base that is necessary to support a successful school system. The proponents of privatized school systems have long maintained that governments are not as knowledgeable about individual school environments as those who and they have to manage many schools, whereas the owners of a specific private subsidized school would be well informed about the school's circumstances and can concentrate on that school alone.

They say that the governments role should become that of regulator, not schoolmaster, and that since the private schools do not face the political constraints that the municipal governments face,they would be more able to adapt to change. Since the operation of public schools is more bureaucratic and centralized than private subsidized schools, it is expected to inhibit rather than promote educational innovation. Private schools, being less bureaucratic and more decentralized, are expected to be more efficient organizations and to have a better perspective than their public school counterparts. They are also expected to provide a greater incentive and opportunity to come up with more innovative programs than public schools in order to...