Privatization Of Education Essay

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Global ideas: the road to privatization of education? Secondary education in Latin America originated from a French-inspired model grounded on two fundamental principles. On the one hand, education should be provided by the central state as a way to sustain the nation-building process. On the other hand, secondary education should train the elite responsible for the nation (Bruter et al., 2004; Tenti, 2003). Yet, the expansion of the capitalist economy shifted secondary education away from an elite-oriented model towards its massification in order to train the manpower required for national progress and modernization (Ramírez and Boli, 1987). Consistent with this organizational institutionalist explanation, different IOs such as UNESCO, the …show more content…

This change broke the principle of the central state as the main provider of education. Consequently, on the one side, lending IOs stressed an economic approach that argued for the privatization of secondary school and the focalization of public investment on primary education. This argument relied on the higher rates of return and better potential to redistribute scarce public resources of primary school compared to secondary education (Psacharopoulos, 1981, 1972; The World Bank, 1995, 1980). These ideas were early diffused in Latin America through the training of economists in different US universities that drew heavily from theories of human capital (Biglaiser, 2002; Teichman, 2001; Uribe, 2014). Later, the WB staff in the region also promoted the benefits of reducing public investment on secondary education and transferring responsibilities to communities and private sector (Heyneman, 2012). The WB also reduced substantially the financial support for secondary education all around the world (see table …show more content…

Decentralization was perceived as a way to make better use of financial resources and move decisions closer to local levels regarded as more knowledgeable about their own education needs (CEPAL and UNESCO, 1992). Through seminars, policy dialogue, and public talks for ministries of education and teacher communities, very well-reputed Latin American education intellectuals actively communicated CEPAL and UNESCO recommendations all across the region (Ottone Interview, 2014). Although through different venues, both views, the economic and the participatory one, attempted to shake the coalitions supporting the central state as the main education provider. The conflict introduced by this disruption was translated differently in every

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