Why Can’t Schools Be More Like Businesses?

I just read a blog post by Larry Cuban, professor emeritus at Stanford University that presents an argument that schools should not be run like businesses (using a business model) as there are important differences (Why Can’t Schools Be More Like Businesses?)

Here is my reply to his blog post:

The model of education presently employed is more than 100 years old. Education has fundamentally NOT changed at all in that time. The model is based on control and compliance and is NOT designed for people to think (or to learn to think). Business, in general, is based on the same fundamental model. In either sphere the one thing required to make a transformation is changing the way people think.

Both education and business are social systems. Social systems are the hardest systems to ‘control.’ Business, as a system has been forced to change. Today there is more tolerance and understanding that thinking, creativity, and innovation are valuable assets (knowledge and skills). Education as a system has, for the most part, kept itself isolated and separate from the rest of the world.

Whether education is a business or not is irrelevant. Some people are more successful running schools like businesses. Some aren’t.

What is relevant is breaking the bonds of isolation and making learning connected to the rest of life. What is relevant is changing the way we think about what school is, what its purpose is, how people learn. One size fits all is NOT a viable strategy. Educators know that. The education system doesn’t.

The Future of Business Education