FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Reflections on the commodification of education If schools were restaurants what would they serve? Would they dish out dull recipes or cook with originality? Would menus be broad or devoid of choice? Would customers be forced to clean their plates whether or not they fulfilled consumers tastes? What sort of food would be in the dining space? Would management care about consumer health or merely profit rates? Satoru: If schools were restaurants, wouldn't most be out of business? Liao: (shrugging his shoulders) Who knows? All of us need to be more selective about quality control. Melissa: (nodding enthusiastically) The voices of students seldom count. Wouldn't you say most curricular-menu changes are cosmetic? Tim: (yawning for a dramatic pause, then pretending to be serious) Yeah. Don't most schools turn students into Mickey-Mouse consumers? Liao: (gesturing in disagreement) Schools are only partly to blame. The mass media and most home environments make people dumber than they should be. Satoru: In cynical moments, I wonder if that's merely an accident. . . ===================================================================================== from _Crassroom Voices - Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Education_ by T Newfields SUMMARY: A conversation and graphic poem concerning market-driven education. KEYWORDS: market-driven education, educational commodification, education, school administration, educational QC Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955) Begun: 1999 in Taoyuan, Taiwan / Finished: 2022 in Yokohama, Japan Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted < LAST https://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/prolog.htm TOC https://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/index.html NEXT > https://www.tnewfields.info/CrassroomVoices/edusales.htm TRANSLATIONS DEUTSCH: https://www.tnewfields.info/de/denka.htm ESPAÑOL: https://www.tnewfields.info/es/mat.htm FRANÇAIS: https://www.tnewfields.info/fr/rest.htm NIHONGO: https://www.tnewfields.info/jp/gakkou.htm VIỆT: https://www.tnewfields.info//Translations/thuc.htm ZHŌNGWÉN: https://www.tnewfields.info/zh/jiaoyu.htm