This article makes the point that the public education model is a failing edifice to a bygone era.  Of course, education is paramount for a civilized and well ordered society and as such there must be a solution.  This is where those with a Godly destiny to reform, rejuvenate, and reinvigorate education are needed.  We pray that after reading this article, you will be stirred to discover, unlock and live your Godly destiny and as such profoundly impact the world of education.

Don Peppers opines, “It’s time to admit that public education operates like a planned economy, a bureaucratic system in which everybody’s role is spelled out in advance and there are few incentives for innovation and productivity. It’s no surprise that our school system doesn’t improve: It more resembles the communist economy than our own market economy.” - Albert ShankerFor more than 30 years prior to his death in 1997, Albert Shanker was a pivotal force in the teachers’ unions, serving as President of both the United Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. But as hard as he fought for teachers’ rights, he also felt the public education system in the U.S. was sadly inadequate.

And with good reason. State-sponsored public education in almost every country in the world is unsatisfactory and inept, a scandal we’ve tolerated far too long.

The origin of comprehensive, state-sponsored schooling in the industrial era can be traced to 19th Century Prussia. In the early 1800’s Prussian military rulers implemented a national schooling program to ensure a supply of disciplined young soldiers capable of resisting any future Napoleonic-style invasion of their country. Under the guise of teaching young boys how to read and do numbers, Prussian schools grouped students by age, rather than by knowledge or ability, sat them at rows of desks facing a teacher, rather than arranging them in discussion circles, and rang a bell regularly, so as to discipline their day while they studied a variety of subjects.

The British adapted the Prussian model when they needed to create their own cadre of professionals to administer their far-flung empire. And Horace Mann, one of the early proponents of public schooling in America, returned from an 1843 visit to Prussia full of ideas for implementing the same kind of system in the U.S.

Teaching “reading, writing and ’rithmatic” was not the main purpose for these early school systems, however, because the vast majority of adults in Prussia, Britain, and the young United States were already literate, even before public schooling was instituted. The printing press had unleashed a tidal wave of demand for literacy, and most people either learned on their own, or were taught by a combination of parents and non-public, for-profit schools. Instead, one of the primary objectives of the public school system in most countries was to raise a disciplined work force and maintain the social order.

In Matt Ridley’s ambitious book The Evolution of Everything, he dedicates a full chapter to a sweeping story of how people educate themselves, when left to their own devices. If you look at how schools develop “in the wild” today, outside of government programs, you'll be amazed at the kind of systems that evolve on their own – simply because parents want to educate their children, and they’re willing to spend money to do so, especially when they see that a state-sponsored system is dysfunctional.

And why not? After all, no one thinks a government monopoly is necessary to ensure an adequate supply of fitness centers, or hotels, or grocery stores, right? But just like hotels and groceries, non-government schools maintain their quality because they compete with each other; state schools do not.

One of the perplexing problems facing the world is the idea that higher education may not be offering any value.  As Christians, who are called to be salt and light, we must understand that this is an area in desperate need of solutions.  We know God has an answer to this dilemma and we know it will be found as those called to the world of higher education discover, unlock and live their Godly destiny.  Is yours the destiny that solves the higher education value proposition crisis?

According to Zachary Slayback, "One of the most popular tropes among career advisors, guidance counselors, school officials, and college recruiters today is that going to college is an investment. As more and more options for work experience and education outside of the higher education cartel crop up, those pushing the college option on young people are forced to fall back on telling the young that, though it may look costly now, it will pay off in the future. Like their Housing Crisis predecessors, they urge young people to take on the seemingly-unimaginable cost with some statistics and graphics showing that, in the recent past, a college degree pays for itself over a lifetime.

It’s time that we admit that this isn’t the case.

The “it’s an investment!” strategy of sending young people to universities is one of the last options available to those urging people to take on this stodgy, quickly-outdated, and inefficient way to build the life that they want. If anything, this idea that it will pay off in the long run is mere speculation, not investment.
Let’s take a look at what I mean.

In the investing world, making speculations is contrasted with making intelligent investments. Investments tend to have a safety of principle and an adequate minimum return. A speculation is something that doesn’t provide this.

All investment requires an element of risk — this doesn’t mean that a speculation is simply a risky investment. It’s an investment that doesn’t give you reason to believe that you’ll actually preserve your principle (the money you initially put in) and give you a return (get you the money that you want).

STOP CITING THOSE ROI STUDIES

Here’s where the college recruiter/advocate interjects, telling me that on my own definition, college is a great investment. “Just look at the ROI rankings put outby Payscaleand Forbes and US News! They say that the data clearly point to a positive ROI!”

But this is misleading.

This assumes that the graduate is a mere lottery ticket and the aggregate of all the attendees at their school. This includes comparing a petroleum engineer to a philosophy major to a Gender Studies major to a business student. At best, this just tells us more about the selection bias in these schools.

(I have written more on problems with these ROI reports and their inability to parse out the selection bias inherent in higher-ranking schools here. In short, these schools take people who would probably be successful anyways and then claim credit for their success. It’s a great recruiting and fundraising tactic, really.)

To rely on this data is to be too quick to declare that the degree is an investment with a minimum ROI. A better study would be to take a large sample who got into the same university (status really doesn’t matter), with the same SAT scores and aptitudes, and follow them over the course of their careers as half drop out and half completes the degree. You would also have to control for elements like where they moved, family structure, background, and more.

If this sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is. There are so many other factors that go into determining the success or failure of a young person over the span of their careers that to turn it on one issue is ludicrous.
But let us assume that the college factor is the overriding, major contributing factor to one’s career. Maybe ROI isn’t the best factor. What about attempting to get the job?