In the Agora: The Pepsi-Cola High School Fighting Bottlers

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November 29, 2004

The Pepsi-Cola High School Fighting Bottlers

Tomorrow's Christian Science Monitor editorializes about a Philadelphia school district's decision to allow companies to bid for naming rights on a new high school.

I am a Republican, a free-trader and a pro-business sort of guy. But before those things I am a citizen who believes there is more to government and civic participation than money and utilitarian calculations--that, ultimately, civic virtue trumps monetary
considerations.

In other words: You have got to be kidding me.

Such a move betrays an absolute and unthinking rejection of the schools' purpose to serve the public by educating the citizenry. Either that, or a craven and calculating rejection of that purpose, one designed to provoke a debate over public funding of the public schools. Maybe we should spend more on classrooms. Of course, we could accomplish that end by spending less on administrative overhead--if memory serves, something like fifty cents on the school funding dollar goes to administrative overhead in Philadelphia.

But money alone won't solve school problems. At some point, the attitude and competence of school administrators have to be an issue. And if these Philly administrators believe it's okay to send children to McDonald's High School, and if they're not competent to find alternatives to that, then they should be replaced. In the meantime, schools should be kept as free as possible from commercial influences. (Yes, I know that they're tainted already.)

Posted by Paul Musgrave at November 29, 2004 06:34 PM

Comments

Such a move betrays an absolute and unthinking rejection of the schools' purpose to serve the public by educating the citizenry.
Perhaps. On the other hand, if it leads to a better education for children, what's so wrong with it?

Posted by: austin at November 30, 2004 01:29 AM | permalink

It won't lead to better education. Getting school policy out of the hands of the incompetent will.

Posted by: Alan K. Henderson at November 30, 2004 01:46 AM | permalink

"Getting school policy out of the hands of the incompetent will."

Ah! And that would mean privatizing the school system.

Posted by: Pieter Friedrich at November 30, 2004 02:47 AM | permalink

Socialism won't work any better in pubic education than it does in any other field of endeavor. Originally, all schools were private ones and they worked very well.

Posted by: Anonymous at November 30, 2004 11:56 AM | permalink

Originally, all schools were private ones and they worked very well.

Except that they didnt, but lets see how the current batch of charter schools fare. The Texas results arent promising, but others show promise.

Posted by: Foltz at November 30, 2004 12:58 PM | permalink

Charter schools are public schools. And, what is your evidence that public schools didn't work? What little fabrication can you come up with? Meanwhile, consider Education and the State by West-available near you at Liberty Press.

Posted by: Anonymous at December 4, 2004 04:31 PM | permalink