Talk about "discipline" in education and you'll get reactions like "Neanderthal". Of course, everyone assumes you are talking about "disciplining" children. But the reality is that the lack of discipline in education has become systemic.
- Education budgets lack discipline. Really? Just compare the cost of a college education to the Consumer Price Index over the past three decades. Really.
- Education administration lacks discipline. Really? Just look at how much of every dollar spent in the education system goes for overhead... administrative costs. Really.
- Education edifices lack discipline. Really? The temples to education have become communities in and of themselves as if expensive surroundings are the only means to facilitate learning. Really.
- Educators lack discipline. Really? Teachers increasingly go through the motions [many because of the rest of this list] while protected by aggressive unions... and the results are apparent. Really.
- Students lack discipline. Really? Aside from 25 varieties of perceived sexual harassment [24 of which are a normal part of growing up], there is little that the education system allows in the way of addressing behavioral or intellectual discipline. Really.
- Parents of students lack discipline. Really? Far too many parents rely on the school system to not only teach everything to their children, but to ensure that they do their homework, attend the classes, and not be a disruptive force... to be substitutes or replacements for parents who are "too busy" with their own lives. Really.
- The government lacks discipline. The bureaucracy believes that money solves all problems with education and that positive results can be mandated without considering whether the mandates make sense, the results seen as positive produce unintended consequences, or whether the entire education system itself is seriously flawed.
That's a lot of missing discipline. Really. The solution: start from the bottom of the list and work up. Additional hint: privatization is a red herring... a generalization that "for profit" is always better:
But those are also unreasonable generalizations. The fact is that both public and private schools enjoy success and produce failure. It has little to do with the "for profit" aspect. So, go back and re-read the list of discipline problems.