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Canada has had government-run education for 150 years. To think what this means, it is instructive to compare the automobile industries in East and West Germany between the years 1945 and 1989. Both countries started off at essentially the same economic level in the aftermath of World War II, which (thanks to Allied bombers) was literally ground level.

Forty-four years later, East Germans were lucky to own a Trabant, a car so dirty and dangerous it achieved cult status before disappearing from East German roads a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  A Trabant was powered by an anemic and smoky two-stroke engine, and its body was made out of a sort of laminated cardboard.  A West German 1989 BMW, on the other hand, was one of the most advanced and well-made cars in the world. Even the lowliest car made in West Germany – for example, an Opel or a German Ford – had excellent comfort, performance, and reliability.

Canada’s government-run school systems are the educational equivalent of the East German car industry.  But there is a key difference. 

The problems with the Trabant were obvious because of the contrast with West German cars. But the problems with Canadian education are not as obvious, because there is no modern country with a wide-open competitive approach to schooling.

Every developed country in the world has government-controlled school systems.  Of course, some jurisdictions (for example, Alberta, BC, Sweden, and the Netherlands) have slightly more consumer choice among schools than the rest.  And these jurisdictions have slightly better educational results. 

But the differences are slight.  It’s like saying that a Lada was a better car than a Trabant.  Neither was very good.

Although there is no modern-day equivalent of the West German car industry, some did exist in the past.  Most notable was ancient Athens. 

The government of Athens played little or no role in the city’s schools.  All Athenian schools were operated as private enterprises, competing with one another for students.  Fees were low and the schools were extremely responsive to parents’ wishes.

We cannot judge Athenian school results by modern standards, since the students didn’t write SATs or participate in international tests of math and science.  However, ancient Athens was one of the most liberal and diverse societies in antiquity, as well as one of the most cohesive, with an incredible explosion of artistic, literacy, architectural, and scientific growth.  Some celebrated Athenians were Socrates, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Euripides, and Demosthenes.

During the approximately 2500 years since then, there have been tremendous advances in many fields – transportation, communications, and medicine, for example.  But there have been no comparable advances in the field of education. 

To illustrate this point, ask yourself whether you would prefer to cross the Atlantic on an Athenian sailing ship or a modern jet.  Which would be your preferred method of communicating with someone in Japan – sending a messenger or an e-mail?  Would you like your pneumonia treated with leeches or antibiotics?

But if you could choose your child’s teacher from either Socrates, or a recent graduate from your province’s foremost faculty of education, armed with all the latest theories, which one would you choose?  I thought so! 

Educational techniques have not advanced because they have been sheltered under the protective wings of monopolies.  Henry Ford, too, had a monopoly of a sort, and so for a while he was able to get away with offering Model T Fords in any colour people wanted, as long as it was black.  But before long, competition caught up with Henry, and now consumers can have a lilac-tinted convertible BMW if they want.

Education is much more important than cars, and we have put up with “all-black Model T” schools for far too long.  It’s high time we exposed schools to the dynamic forces of competition and found out what the educational equivalent of a BMW is.  Let’s choose school choice!

Malkin Dare of Waterloo, Ontario, is the President of the Society for Quality Education. She can be reached at mdare at sympatico dot ca.