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Date:         Mon, 28 Sep 1992 21:48:00 EST
              <EDPOLYAN@ASUACAD.BITNET>
From:         LES MCLEAN <3673_LDM@UTOROISE.BITNET>
Subject:      The Adoration of the Private Sector

Entreaties to universities and colleges to work more closely with the
private sector are just beginning to peak here in backwater Great White
North, leading (among many other things) to pressure for R&D and training
organizations such as OISE (see signoff logo for name) to seek out
well-paid work from the likes of IBM, Apple and much smaller companies,
both to bring in money to cover costs and also to be more relevant to that
important sector (not just to marginal enterprises such as schools).
   This brought to mind the interesting case of the Stanford Research
Institute, which became SRI International.  Will anyone on Edpolyan tell me
whether Stanford retained any pecuniary interest in SRI, or refer me to
someone who can, or give a citation? (send direct, please, unless you
wish to make a general point--which may well be worth doing.)

   Why do we think only of the postsecondary sector?  If there is such a
passion for private schools, why not let Districts set them up, cream off
the best teachers and plow the money back into the rest of the schools?
Where market forces reign, should there be any limits to spinoff
possibilities?  School districts of my acquaintance do a tremendous amount
of literacy training after hours, at little or no cost to students.  Might
they not offer contracts at much higher rates to industries where literacy
upgrading is needed?  Might this not have a salutary effect on the
districts, beyond their budgets?  Oh, yes--I know what you are all
thinking--that schools could not do this, that they would botch it up or
lose money.  Perhaps they would; that is what most private operators do.
   Schools in the USA have a reputation for being able to give lots of
tests.  Why not offer assessment centres to business?  Now that much of the
factory work is moving to Mexico, management everywhere is paying top
dollar to consultants to assess their workforce, fire those who get low
test scores and do some retraining with the others (usually in a new
factory in a more desirable part of town).  Go for it, you entrepreneurial
Principals and Superintendents!  It will be a piece of cake compared to the
tasks you have now to offer something good to diverse mobs of students
whose parents have opted out for the most part and whose television
entertainment is rap videos until they mature to the soaps.
   Am I cynical?  You bet I am, but even cynics can have a thought the odd
time.  Do delete this quickly, but feel free to give me a blast first.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Les McLean                         adminlm@oise.on.ca (internet)
                                   adminlm@utoroise.bitnet
Measurement, Evaluation and              (416) 923-6641
   Computer Applications                             -^-
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education         __\ /__
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