In a public school, it is easy to overlook the reality of our education. What incentivizes people to supply us with an education? Money.

In elementary school, kids study from books supplied solely by Pearson or curriculums based on that year’s standardized tests, all to maximize profits. With standardized tests that can determine funding for a school, the incentives are financial from the executives down. Aidan Chapman ‘20 acknowledges this, saying, “I remember the uniformity of our books. All of them were from the same company, with the math books where you tear out your homework each night as well as reading tests that were the same format for 5 years through elementary school.” The ISAT, a standardized test used to track development of critical skills, often dominated the classroom dialogue, as teachers’ goals for each year were to maximize average score, even if it required mere memorization over learning.

Monetization of education doesn’t end at eighth grade graduation; College Board enters the lives of students, demanding money for taking tests required to get into most universities. Ian Hicks ‘20 says, “I have to pay so much money because of the number of AP tests I take. For most students at Whitney Young, AP tests are a large part of the curriculum, so overall, we must pay a ridiculous amount of money to College Board as a school each year.” It won’t surprise many to find out that College Board executives make upwards of $300,000 per year, and the CEO made $1.3 million in 2009, and the profits in 2006 were $55 million (Costello, Carol. (December 29, 2009). “Educating America: The big business of the SAT”, CNN.).

While exorbitant profits might not be preferable, is the monetization of education really that bad? Jack Fetsch ‘19 says, “I think the profits are ridiculous, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a good education without its monetization. It is really a fine line, because the privatization of education really just makes people want to maximize their profits off of people learning, like any other business. We have to be able to restrict it though.” If this means government control over the industry, or regulation over companies, all we know for sure is the current system has a knack for putting strain into families’ wallets.