What’s Swedish for “Bad Idea”?
A recent article in The Economist profiled the “free-market revolution” currently taking place in Sweden’s schools. Reforms from 1994 basically allow anyone that satisfies very basic standards to open a new school and accept students at the state’s expense. The local municipality must pay the school the equivalent of how much it would have spent educating the child itself (depending on child’s age and school’s location). There cannot be any religious requirements or entrance exams and the schooling must be absolutely free for the students. What has emerged is a series of chain schools that are sweeping the country in a wave of independent educational institutions, and the share of Swedish children educated privately has risen from less than 1% to more than 10% since the reform.
The biggest chain, called Kunskapsskolan (or “Knowledge Schools”) now has 30 schools, 700 employees, and 10,000 students around the country and an operating profit of nearly SKr 62 million a year. How are they making money if they can’t charge students you may ask? Well, like IKEA, the giant Swedish furniture-maker, the schools get its customers to do much of the work themselves. Most important is the Kunskapsporten which is basically a website containing the entire syllabus. Although students attend some classes and lectures, a lot of the studying and learning is done independently and the students can work at their own level. The school saves on facilities by renting fields and classrooms a few times a week when needed.
I think this sounds like home-schooling with a little bit of tutoring and outside help. I’ve never been a huge fan of home schooling because I think one of the most vital parts of grade school is interacting with peers, learning how to live by a schedule, discovering the importance (and challenges) of team work, and being exposed to everything the world has to offer. That’s not to say I don’t have home schooled friends that are socially adept, but even they often complain of being ill prepared for college and/or the work life. Moreover they often complain about having difficulties building relationships with colleagues as they get older.
What’s worse though is the school systems attitude towards education. While many schools would be appalled at being likened to IKEA, the company’s boss goes so far as to compare his schools to McDonald’s. “If we’re religious about anything, it’s standardization. We tell our teachers it is more important to do things the same way than to do them well,” he says. He then further likens his schools to hotels and airlines which he says only make money if they are popular enough to maintain high occupancy rates. This concept sounds outrageous! You certainly aren’t going to produce the kinds of leaders and innovators and free-thinkers the world’s future needs with this approach. When it comes to education, doing things well seems pretty darn important to me. And I’m not sure comparing yourself to the airline industry is such a good idea right now anyways. The fact that it is difficult for airlines to differentiate themselves is definitely part of their problem because the only component they can really compete on is price and these schools can’t even compete on that.
Kunskapsskolan’s DIY style of education may soon spread beyond Sweden’s borders to the UK, says the article, but I sure hope it never comes here.
