The British education researcher warns that as marketplace values invade our education system, increasingly conflict will erupt between the values that parents want their children to acquire at school and the actual values they will be learning. In turn, children will acquire these values and the implication is that a generation from now students will emerge from school with those values firmly entrenched. Research shows these students are more likely to be involved in crime and drug and alcohol abuse, says Ball. Marketplace values do provide advantages for some people, Ball points out. Moving from school to school maintains a culture of exclusivity in which children from other social and economic backgrounds are shut out, he says.
Ball thinks so.
He suggests principals renounce the culture of the marketplace and textbook economics. It's a matter of finding a different way of running their organization, a way that isn't simply based on taking the principles of managerial practice from the books on the shelf. If the trend toward embracing marketplace values continues, there will be dire consequences, Ball says. If marketplace principles take hold and prevail in our education system, we will not recognize our schools in 10 years' time.