The Growth Of Corporate Schooling

Since the nineteenth century, there has been an effort among educators to control, standardize, and coordinate the educational system by certifying and classifying pupils, certifying teachers, accrediting schools, and adopting a formal curriculum. As a result, education has been come to be defined by a certified instructor teaching a standardized approved topic to a registered student in an accredited school. Meyer & Rowan use the section title ‘The Growth of Corporate Schooling’ to describe the rise in bureaucratic schooling because schools have conformed to the demands of the corporate world. Because the corporate world has increasingly emphasized credentials, educators have done the same for their institutions, students, and teachers. In order for schools to be credentialed, they must meet certain standards such as offering certain programs or hiring well-qualified staff. Students have faced increased pressure to obtain a college degree to enter to corporate world, and even then students are finding that they must go to graduate school to obtain more competitive positions. Teachers have been forced to meet more rigorous standards whether by receiving additional training or ensuring that a certain percentage of their students excel in their class (Ballantine & Spade, 2015, pp. 97-102).

Although it may seem like the growth of corporate control of education could be beneficial, there are several consequences that are anti-pedagogical. With schools forced to follow such strict standards, one violation could lead a district to lose credibility. For example, if a school has too few professors with Ph.D.’s, properly credentialed staff, or too many of a certain type of course, students will have difficulty finding jobs, recei...

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...y deserve. I believe that the most important component of a program like this is to get the community involved in transforming the local schools. Getting the community involved not only provides additional support to students, but it also helps address the social problems that negatively impact the community. Additionally, federal and state agencies must step in to provide funding for high-poverty schools so they can provide additional resources to enhance student achievement. If high-poverty schools could provide students with a wider variety of co-curricular activities, an extended school day, extended school year, and social services such as social workers, psychologists, and dental care, students would be more engaged with their school, and community members would develop a greater appreciation for their school district (Ballantine & Spade, 2015, pp. 103-108).