Education is as old as humanity itself. The need to pass down knowledge to the younger generation is crucial for the survival of humanity. Education was previously undertaken either within a family or in various predecessors of modern schools and colleges. These are what built civilisations and held humanity together amidst external forces. Education transforms minds, teaches language and skills, and propagates culture and art. It is one of the most important aspects of a man's life, along with his career, family, and societal status.
Education was largely within families in ancient times. When societies and civilisations formed, public education gained importance. Societies, civilisations, dynasties, and governments started controlling the education system for good and bad. In a few civilisations, only the royalty and the priest class were allowed to become literate. However, it didn't stop others from getting educated through oral means like stories and poems.
As modern age education has become accessible to every member of every class of humanity, the need for control over education has become significant. The weaponisation of education is one of the most horrific strategies authoritarian governments use to keep young minds under control. Similarly, corporate control over education can also have the same drastic effects on morals. In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of two major forms of education: the commercialised education system and the state-controlled education system. We have left home schooling behind as it has lost relevance and popularity with the spread of globalisation. Even when the pandemic was at its peak, home schooling didn't make any significant gain in popularity.
Commercialisation of education
The industrial age and then the digital age started the commercialisation of education. Starting with defence and education to space, our MNC s and governments have dispersed control over many sectors. While the commercialisation of education has many advantages, it also has many disadvantages. In India, medical colleges mushroomed in the private sector after being commercialised. This created opportunities for many medical aspirants, which was previously only a dream. However, the opportunities are limited to those who have money. Private medical seats are more expensive than government ones, making them a sour grape for the poor and middle-class medical aspirants.
Pros of Commercialisation of Education
The commercialisation of education creates employment opportunities
The commercialisation of education is directly linked to privatisation. Private educational institutions create jobs for educated young people. When a new educational institution is established, it brings job opportunities with it. Qualified individuals can become guest lecturers, teachers, or education managers. It also helps in creating better opportunities for senior educationists with years of experience. As the staffing procedure is determined largely by the institution itself, competitive individuals get the chance to teach. Apart from the teaching jobs, numerous positions like office assistants, clerks, and drivers, etc. open up.
Along with these, job-oriented colleges teach trades and skills to their learners. From machine-oriented trade schools to engineering and medical colleges, these institutions create a skilled workforce for the future. Moreover, these institutions hold placement drives on campus or have industry tie-ups, which in turn give 100% placement assistance. Overall, commercialisation helps to create an industry-oriented workforce and an abundance of work.
The commercialisation of education can impact a nation's GDP
As more private institutions are established, the number of skilled trade workers increases. Also, private institutes open up several jobs within, like teaching, administration, etc. private educational institutions can have an impact on a nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The availability of an industry-ready workforce, along with industry tie-ups and a little help from the government, can make a difference in a country's economic growth. Commercialisation of education results in more private investments by business owners. This indirectly attracts foreign investment into a country. More manufacturing units of MNCs, IT companies, and service-based industries open up their branches in the country, thus resulting in more employment opportunities and GDP growth.
It can improve the quality of education
The commercialisation of the education system increases the quality of education available for the learners within a region. This happens through a series of the establishment of new institutions and healthy competition between them. The introduction of new private education institutions meet the demand for education and quench the thirst for knowledge among underprivileged learners who lack quality educational institutions in the area, city, or country. This saves considerable investment on travel, food, and accomodation costs. This will lead to competition for learners and teaching staff. It brings fresh talents, teaching staff, and pedagogy to the table. Overall, the number of private education institutions competing against each other for fame or profit ultimately enhances the quality of education and overall value for money. In such healthy competition, the consumer holds all the cards, in this case, a learner choosing the best institution.
It improves personal, professional, and vocational development
Commercialisation and privatisation help in the overall personality development of the learner. Educational institutions can create valuable connections, relationships, and networking opportunities. It can be a place where learners meet their future co-founders, CEOs, and managers. It can influence in making critical life decisions like career and friendships. The commercialised education system can thus result in the overall personality development of its learners.
Commercialisation saves government funds and breaks the monopoly
The availability of several private educational institutions decreases the need for government involvement. This can save tax money spent on building and maintaining educational institutions. Privatisation helps in that money being spent somewhere else where there is a real need.
Privatisation and commercialisation can break the monopoly of other educational institutions, state or private. This can disperse the control of education by a few key players. This facilitates overall competition and the exploration of further opportunities. An example of this would be the recent trend in online education. Graduation and post-graduation used to be reserved for full-time college-goers. This left busy working individuals in an unfair blind spot. As online education has gained traction, higher education has become accessible to everyone, including senior professionals with full-time jobs and families. SNATIKA is one such educational institution exclusively dedicated to senior working professionals. SNATIKA's UK Masters Degree programs offer great opportunities for busy professionals who need a prestigious Masters degree within a year.
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Cons of Commercialisation of Education
A profit-oriented approach can negatively impact the scope of education
When education is commercialised, it becomes a business. Morals, ethics, and equality may be neglected. Management sees educational institutions as a profit-making business unit. As a result, anything that does not bring a profit is undermined like sports or other curricular activities. Hence, this can result in a rigid set of rules by the management. Teachers have to prove with every idea or change in the system that they can bring more profit to the institution.
More emphasis on Marks/Ranks/Grades
Due to the competition between several institutions within a locality, marks/grades and ranks become a matter of prestige. To show their academic excellence, educational institutions get into unhealthy competition. Education is the complete maturation of a learner's mind or skills. When ranks become a measure of excellence, this important scope of learning takes a backseat. Critical practical skills and soft skills are neglected as the system emphasises only marks.
Equality is overlooked
Although privatisation gives everyone a chance to get educated, it is not always the case. Society is divided into many economic classes. The lower working class, like manual labourers, who are living in poverty, are unable to meet the fee demands of quality educational institutions. When education becomes expensive, it threatens social equality and justice by leaving out poor learners. This is one of the major concerns of the privatisation of education.
Loss of ethics and morals
The commercialisation of education can develop a materialistic outlook in learners. They may see education as merely passing exams, gaining higher grades, and moving to the next level. This can negatively impact the scope of education; which is to transform a learner into an individual with thinking capacity and personal leadership and use the skills acquired for the greater good of the society. As a result, individuals confuse schooling with education and neglect lifelong learning. The objectification of education can also become a downward spiral where the learner learns to see everything as objects. This might result in less ethical standards and demoralisation in the society.
Exploitation of teachers
Privatisation of education can result in the exploitation of teaching staff. Due to the aforementioned unhealthy competition and profit orientation, teachers are offered less than fair salaries. Moreover, the syllabus is overloaded to meet the demands of the marks/rank system. Thus, inducing more stress on the teaching staff.
Unhealthy competition
Healthy competition between institutions can bring many good things. But when it reaches toxic levels, it can hurt both parties involved. It will only increase the stress on teaching staff and learners. Skills take a backseat and marks/ranks become the primary concern. This can result in unreasonable workloads and add extra teaching hours for the staff.
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State-controlled education
A completely State-controlled education system can be good or bad, depending on several factors. The economic and administrative state of the country plays a major role in the outcome of state-controlled education. Countries like Finland have mostly state-controlled education. Even with the system, Finland is the number one country in the world of education(Source: Edsys). On the flip side, many authoritarian governments use education as a tool for political gain and brainwashing young minds. The Nazi regime of the previous century and the Chinese communist regime's education system are two good examples of how education can be a manipulative tool in the hands of evil politicians.
Pros and cons of State-Controlled Education
State provides funds
In a completely state-controlled education system, the government is responsible for building the infrastructure, choosing the curriculum, staffing, and maintaining the system. This is where the economic state of the country comes into play. In developed countries, maintaining the whole education system has become an easier task. An abundance of tax funds and an educated population can make the system a success.
However, this is not the same case in developing and poorer countries. There are many countries where political and social structures are in turmoil. In such countries, the funds get hijacked by militants. In many poor countries, education is neglected because the standard of living is too low to think about education. Also, governments struggle to set funds aside for education as there are a multitude of issues to take care of, like defence, hunger, and internal conflicts.
Uniformity in education
A completely state-controlled education system can be good for countries with fewer cultural differences. In small countries, populations have a similar culture and language. This results in almost similar educational preferences across the country. In such countries, a uniform educational structure can be a good thing (Though the Finnish education system encourages the syllabus to be decided by individuals and institutions).
However, in countries like India, where the local culture changes every few hundred kilometres, uniformity in education will result in a multitude of problems. The local languages may be neglected by a uniform educational structure across the country, which results in bitterness among the local population. Local holidays, problems, and culture might get left out in a uniform national curriculum.
Teachers become government employees
In a state-controlled education system, teachers become government employees. This can have both positive and negative effects on the teachers, depending on the circumstances. If the government is economically stable, teachers will be treated fairly, with higher salaries and better living conditions. If the country's economic structure is weak, this can cause meagre wages and living conditions. Teachers may also lose their autonomy in choosing their teaching methods tailored to each student.
Education doesn't involve local issues
State-controlled education can impose a uniform educational structure across the country. This can be a good thing, as education can be spared from local politics. Nationwide uniformity in the education system can benefit small, monocultural, and monolingual countries.
On the flip side, local culture, language, and issues might get ignored. This will be a drawback in larger nations with diverse cultures and languages. In such countries, education diversification matching the local requirements will be the best option. For example, in countries like Iran and China (Source: BBC), English is considered a threat to the local culture and language and hence is banned in schools.
The possibility of the weaponisation of education
On the one hand, we have amazing examples like Finland's world-class education system, and on the other hand, we have authoritarian regimes like the nazi and communist china education systems. Education can be used as a tool to brainwash young minds. This can erode the values and morals of a country. Under corrupt governments, these principles are downplayed with watered-down history and a lack of farsightedness into the future.
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Conclusion
Both a commercialised and a state-controlled education system have their advantages and disadvantages. While the commercialised education system provides a country with jobs, personality development, and economic growth, it can also lead to unhealthy competition, higher costs, and teacher exploitation. A state-controlled system can be good or bad for a nation, depending on the nation's economic condition and the intention of those in power.
As a result, a combination of both is desired and necessary for the nation's wellbeing. This balance can reduce the disadvantages of both education systems. Learners can benefit from both systems when there is a balancing of power. Before you leave, check out SNATIKA's prestigious MBA program in Education Management and Masters degree program in Education Management and Leadership. These online programs can get you ahead of competition in the education management domain within just 12 months.