Like many familiar institutions, the education system has recently undergone an unprecedented transformation. If you are troubled and laboring under the suspicion that things have changed more drastically than you like to admit, then you are not alone. The following authoritative assessment is from the British Journal of Educational Technology:
“Given the resources absorbed and expectations created; given the hopes that nations and universities invested in commercial online education as the major new direction for higher education; the industry’s failure is catastrophic…
“The fiasco of government investments in e-learning is a salutary reminder that policy making advice conditioned by marketing ‘spin’ is inferior to policy making advice conditioned by research and grounded in expert judgement. The principal arguments for allowing the industry to lead policy are that a bureaucratic perspective tends to be both too cautious and too inclined to omnipotence; and that a market-led approach facilitates innovation. There is something in all of three arguments. But where the various governments went wrong was in methodology, in allowing their own perspectives and responsibilities to be subordinated to the industry’s narrative scenario of the e-learning future.”
(Schworm, S., & Gruber, H. (2012). e-Learning in universities: Supporting help-seeking processes by instructional prompts. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(2), 272-281)
Education Reform is the working title of a book I am currently researching and writing. This book will track these historic changes objectively as part of the necessary effort to ensure public institutions retain their value. There is not a dedicated website yet, but you can send inquiries to Education Associates, LP.