The Importance Of Privatization Of Public Education

To understand privatization as a neoliberal strategy, first the definition of neoliberalism needs to be clarified. Neoliberalism is the economic philosophy that operates under the “free-market” approach (Harvey, 2005). Privatization is one of the few ways to support the neoliberal idea. Privatization is “the transfer of funds and management from public and governmental institutions to the private sector” (Gilroy & Moore, 2010, p. 1). Therefore, privatization as a neoliberal strategy can be defined as the economic model that functions under the principle of free-market and restricted government intervention (Harvey, 2005).The privatization of Healthcare, education, public assistance and other public sectors, is an example of the prevalence of neoliberal economic practices in the United

On the positive side, privatizing education can lead to hiring more competent teachers, advanced technology for the classrooms, and be the addition of teachers in order to give more individualized attention to students. Privatization has allowed private companies to hire teachers, which gives certain people the illusion that they are receiving better education (Walker, 2012). Things do not always run the way they should. Once education is seen as a business to profit from, there is little regard for those it will negatively affect. Education has become less about encouraging students to think outside the box and more about standardized test to carry out the curriculum (Weiner, 2012). It is important to see the education crisis described by Ravitch (2016) that is occurring, “Children and educators alike are simply Data points, to be manipulated by economists, statistician, entrepreneurs, and dabblers in policy. Education has lost its way, lost its purpose, lost its definition”. There is a great need for education to transform into something much powerful than it was, in order to teach people how to