Constant Conservative

Education always occurs; whether or not it is profitably directed is another issue altogether. My son, though he is still shy of his first birthday, is receiving an education in familial interpersonal relationships from his sisters. I’m certain he will graduate with honors.

However, if we talk about structured education (that is schooling), there are some shining examples of market-driven education that fill the bill very nicely, thank you:

Most of [the schools] occupy sketchy facilities, sans playgrounds, labs, libraries and fancy technology. Many teachers are themselves just high-school graduates. The kids bring their own lunches. Parents provide transportation and go to the bazaar for textbooks and uniforms. Sports and extracurricular activities are scarce to nonexistent. Neither schools nor families have any money to spare.

But teaching and learning are occurring in those cramped and sometimes ill-lit classrooms. Eager youngsters, prodded by determined parents, are drinking in whatever knowledge and skills their books and teachers can provide. And while besting nearby government schools on state tests is no high accolade in places like Andhra Pradesh, most of these private schools are doing that at astonishingly low costs.

Tuitions in the Hyderabad schools I visited last week range from $2 to $6 per child per month (i.e. about $25 to $75 annually)–and historically that’s been the schools’ sole source of revenue. (Those joining the Aristotle project are now getting some help with teacher training, English-language curriculum and computer labs.)

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I’m struck by how all this is happening almost without reference to public policy. These education entrepreneurs, both small- and large-scale, mainly want government to continue ignoring them.

At the primary level, so far as I can tell, at least in Andhra Pradesh (of which Hyderabad is the capital), it isn’t even necessary to get a government license to open a private school, nor does one’s school receive any kind of aid.

Six. Dollars. A. Month. That’s working on a shoestring budget (even in a country such as India where living standards vary widely). But the children are eager, the parents are willing and the teachers are teaching, some better than others, but teaching nonetheless. You want to talk about hope, I’m guessing that hope is what drives them all forward.

I’m beginning to believe that one of the biggest issues with education here is the United States is that we’ve had so much for so long and never really had to struggle. We laugh at “uphill in the snow 4 miles both ways” stories from our elders, but we really don’t know, don’t understand what it often cost our grandparents and parents to get a 8th-grade education, let alone graduate from high-school or college. I’m ashamed to say that folks like my grandfather did more with a 5th-grade education than many of my peers have done with graduate degrees.