Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

Today’s NYTimes feared an op ed article by Ryan Beck and Amit Seru titled “Short Term Thinking is Poisoning American Business”. In my opinion, the article describes the result of businesses and economists adopting Milton Friedman’s credo of shareholder primacy, a phenomenon Mr. Beck and Mr. Seru describe in the closing two paragraphs:

Milton Friedman, who popularized the notion of shareholder primacy and pursuit of profit, once lamented that business leaders are often “incredibly shortsighted and muddle-headed in matters that are outside their businesses but affect the possible survival of business in general.”

Friedman was right. The modern economy is not working for too many people, who have begun to equate short-term thinking with free-market capitalism and have had enough of both. The survival of business in general demands that we take the long view.

As I noted in a comment I posted, Friedman WAS right that “…business leaders are often “incredibly shortsighted and muddle-headed in matters that are outside their businesses but affect the possible survival of business in general.” But Mr. Friedman himself was shortsighted when he advocated the idea of shareholder primacy because shortsightedness and muddle-headedness was a direct result of that notion. Outsourcing, downsizing, off-shoring, “optimizing” work schedules, eliminating pensions and robust health insurance all increase the bottom line but undercut the well being of employees and, as a result the economic health of our country. Until we restore the notion that corporations need to put the well-being of their employees ahead of the well-being of shareholders we will continue to have “short-sighted” business leaders.

And here’s what makes matters worse from my perspective: part of the notion of privatization is that the use of “business principles” will drive down costs and improve performance of public schools. Many privatized schools have illustrated how they accomplish this feat: they assume no legacy costs; require no new construction and thereby avoid debt service; they offer minimum compensation to new and inexperienced teachers to avoid matching the wages and benefits afforded to those veteran teachers in public schools; and they limit their students to those whose parents have either the fiscal ability or commitment and engagement required to complete the often complex and/or time consuming application processes. In short, they limit the enrollment of “difficult” children or children with disengaged parents while simultaneously limiting the amount they need to spend per pupil by limiting total compensation packages to their staff.

And… if the executives in these for profit charter schools turn a profit they get duly rewarded in the same short term rewards as their counterparts in business: a bonus or wage boost that results in compensation that far exceeds that of the teachers delivering the instruction. The short term thinking in schools is likely to turn out the same way as the short term thinking in business: a situation Mr. Bent and Mr. Seru describe as follows:

Short-term business practices are polluting our environment and harming our health and well-being for the sake of quick payouts.

We’re polluting school environments with tests and harming the health and well-being of teachers and students as a result. Time to pull the plug on profiteering in schools.