The Swedes have made a success of private schools in their country apparently. The history of schools in Sweden, apparently shows that private schools that work for profit work best.
So, the way of avoiding the trap of good schools only becoming the privilege of the few is to allow for‐profit schools to operate.
This is also the theory my brother always puts forth whenever I discuss college education with him. He quotes the universities of the USA like Harvard. The theory is that market forces will ensure he demise of bad schools and only good schools will emerge as winners.
There is evidence that private schools in villages work better than government schools. In the School Choice National Conference 2009 they show some evidence. It has also been the experience of ASER.
I think the flaw in this is that these schools will cater to the needs of parents who pay the fees. Parents for most part do not understand what is good education. Poor uneducated parents will trust the school and not interfere, but middle class parents feel their child must know more and more stuff. If their child can recite pages of stuff they feel he has been educated well. So the school makes children recite pages of stuff.
I too do not really understand how good education is brought about.... I am able to see the current system is bad, but cannot figure out how a good system should work. Different children learn in different manner.
The American schools with a sort of laissez faire type of education may not be the best idea, since I feel the power of diligence is underrated in such systems. Our method which goes to the other extreme is definitely not good. I keep reading a lot of hand-wringing articles on the bad state of school education in the US as well as in the UK. So where is this "good education" being practised?
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The Indian high school system is rigourous and sets a decent platform for higher studies. Introducing more optional courses, project based learning and doing away with a cut-throat marks based evaluation could help matters. And yes, the U.S. school system appears to be ordinary, if not pathetic. My roommate teaches Mathematics to undergraduates and says its common to find many of his students who struggle to add fractions.
A
By and large, the original Indian school education is fine. It's our "So-and -so Concept school", "So-and-so model school" that have mushroomed in tne last 10 years in my state that I rant against.
Also our obsession with science and maths and the marks thereof.
Has anyone ever asked you how you did your geography exam? or supw?
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