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Why a privatized GED will fail students
http://socialistworker.org/2012/12/11/a-privatized-ged-fails-studentsIn 2011, Pearson Education, the world's largest for-profit testing company, entered into a "partnership" with the non-profit American Council on Education, the parent organization that created GED Testing Service, which in turn develops and sells the GED to all 50 states and U.S. territories.
What really happened is that Pearson executed a takeover of GED Testing and installed a Pearson executive to run its new "partner," with the test now being developed by Pearson and sold through GED Testing, with the copyrighted GED name.
This is a familiar story in education, as for-profit companies, bolstered by neoliberal think tanks, lobbyists and "strategic philanthropy," have moved aggressively to seize "business opportunities" in charter school operation, testing and test preparation, outsourced school management functions and "distance learning." The result, as in the case of many online universities and "proprietary" (i.e., for-profit) colleges, is that predatory business practices are common, and in all cases, resources are diverted from education to executive salaries and shareholder return.
What Pearson has done, however, is distinguished by the magnitude of its achievement. In a maneuver worthy of a 19th century robber baron or a 1980s junk bond king, Pearson acquired a virtual monopoly on high school equivalency testing.
What really happened is that Pearson executed a takeover of GED Testing and installed a Pearson executive to run its new "partner," with the test now being developed by Pearson and sold through GED Testing, with the copyrighted GED name.
This is a familiar story in education, as for-profit companies, bolstered by neoliberal think tanks, lobbyists and "strategic philanthropy," have moved aggressively to seize "business opportunities" in charter school operation, testing and test preparation, outsourced school management functions and "distance learning." The result, as in the case of many online universities and "proprietary" (i.e., for-profit) colleges, is that predatory business practices are common, and in all cases, resources are diverted from education to executive salaries and shareholder return.
What Pearson has done, however, is distinguished by the magnitude of its achievement. In a maneuver worthy of a 19th century robber baron or a 1980s junk bond king, Pearson acquired a virtual monopoly on high school equivalency testing.
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Just kidding -- heard a comedian say that once.
This should actually be called the NGED: Not Good Enough, Dude...
