Friday, February 17th, 2012

Bangkok

Opinion/Analysis by

Burin Kantabutra

I agree with Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej that wealthier people have sustained schools and universities with “tea money” since time immemorial and it was common for schools to accept the children of donors.

It is long overdue that we had a minister who recognized that quality education costs far more than what schools can get from the state and from state-set tuition fees.

As one time Harvard president Derek Bok noted, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”

Quality Education Isn't Cheap, and Will Never Be Free

But I disagree with his plan to legalize the acceptance of ‘tea money,’ because as the saying goes, “He who pays the piper calls the tune,” and there would be tremendous pressure on schools to admit a donor’s child even if he or she was not really qualified, possibly dragging academic standards down (not to mention destroying any sense of educational objectivity via pure recognition of academic achievement).

Instead, the minister should apply free market principles to schools.

First, let interested buyers/parents know what they’re purchasing by posting each school’s average scores on the O-Net/A-Net and other standardized measures of testing  students, each faculty member’s academic credentials, along with their average teacher to student ratio, special classes available, number of books and resources in the library, etc. on his ministry’s website, so that they’ll be informed ‘purchasers’.

Then, let each school charge what the market will bear – with the condition that the school must have enough financial aid available for any student needing it, for up to half of each entering class. Admission would be need-blind until financial aid for that year ran out.