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It’s currently my first day here at CER and I have already attended a book launch event/panel discussion that honed in on the current struggles with education and markets, and peeked into the future of a more productive system. Upon arriving at the panel at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), we were given copies of Research Fellow Michael McShane’s Education and Opportunity mini-book (emphasis on the mini), which serves as a basic introduction of the education system to a new college audience joining the education conversation. The book addresses reforms such as smaller class sizes, indirect choice, accountability, increase in staff, and universal preschool, which all put concepts into practice.

His overarching theme throughout the piece revolves around the idea that decentralizing a system that leverages society leads to a more holistic understanding of education. He breaks down parent power at a basic level in an attempt to reach a younger age group. He starts off with generalities: Education is important. Academic success is crucial because it leads to monetary prosperity. McShane addresses the gap between the salaries of college graduates and those of high school graduates. The Brookings Institute released a study noting that while 45% of those in the bottom tier of the income bracket without a college degree remained in poverty, those who were born into poverty but pursued college education actually have a higher probability of ending up in the wealthiest tier, as opposed to ending up in the lowest. Another one of his points revolves around the troubling statistic that only 26% of students who took the ACT scored “college ready” in all four subjects. As a student who took the ACT’s only a few years ago, the concept of an education system not properly setting students up for economic prosperity comes as no surprise. ACT scores are on a constant decline. At what point are we going to take a step back and realize that if the system is not producing the results needed, the plan of attack must be changed?

The panel later addressed how markets are extremely powerful tools in separating schools from governments, but made sure to reiterate that markets are not magic. Jeffrey Bailey, Executive Vice President of Arete Scholars addressed education as an enterprise to be approached in new ways. Everything in our society has become interdisciplinary, but our education system has not caught up. In Bailey’s words, “schools should look less like a general handyman and more like a specialized contractor.” Andy Smarick, Partner at Bellwether Education Partners, joined in on the conversation with a challenge to consider “charter” as a verb, not an adjective. To charter is to create, hold accountable, and continue a cycle of improvement. This idea of “School Choice 2.0” is fascinating because it calls out the divisiveness of unitary education system. As society changes, education must innovate to meet new expectations.

What impresses me most about McShane’s book is that it does not aim to intimidate college students with impressive terminology and verbose academic assertions. Instead, he wants to incorporate younger people into the discussion by making his points about education clear and focused. The point he made about price stabilization should be an issue that speaks directly to young students. We have no idea how much it costs to educate a student; we only know how much we spend on that education. It’s up to us to inject market forces into government by adding new innovations (such as education saving accounts) that liberalize the system and those in it. McShane provides an easy-to-follow book that drives home the concept of an independent operated, government-funded, and individually chosen education system. Although the book did seem to oversimplify dynamic issues, it doesn’t seem to cross the line of offending students with its simplicity.

Brett Swanson, CER Intern