Decline in Educational Standards

The Decline in Educational Standards: From a Public Good to a Quasi-Monopoly is about the "commodification" of education and the factors that have changed education from a public good into a "commodity" over the last 50 years. When we look at today's education, we see that academic standards in public education have been declining for decades even as education funding has reached nearly a trillion dollars per year to fund such failed programs as No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Simultaneously, tuition and fees at public universities have increased nearly 2000 percent over the last 30 years, and student loan debt is now a staggering $1.5 trillion. Quite simply, education has become big business.
This book examines the various issues associated with the commodification of education, especially neoliberalism and privatized Keynesianism-what they are, how they developed, and how they have affected education and public policy. It argues that neoliberalism and the related socioeconomic shift to "debt-based consumerism" are at the center of commodification, leading to a significant decline in the exchange value of a college degree. It also argues that we cannot understand the changes in our public and higher education systems without examining the historical, social, economic, and political factors that have essentially created an education system that is significantly different from what it was in the not so distant past.

James D. Williams is a Christian educator, having served as a church minister of education, a tenured seminary professor, executive leader of a denomination program and publishing entity, president of a denomination missions program for men and boys, and coordinator of mission fellowship groups, including one for medical and dental volunteers. In his ministry, he has sought to model Christ-centered servant leadership. Currently, he is serving as a senior fellow at B. H. Carroll Theological Institute and as an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University.

Acknowledgements Introduction Section I: Economics and Neoliberalism Chapter 1: Liberalism and Conservatism: Some Characteristics Chapter 2: The Industrial Revolution Chapter 3: Socialist Stirrings Chapter 4: John Maynard Keynes and Economic Theory Chapter 5: The Great Depression Chapter 6: Kynesian Economics and The Road to Serfdom Chapter 7: The 1970s Inflation Chapter 8: Debt-Based Consumer Capitalism and Taxation Chapter 9: Debt-Based Consumerism and a Mountain of Debt Chapter 10: Too Big to Fail Section II: What Happened to Public Education? Chapter 11: The Common School Movement Chapter 12: Meeting the Educational Needs in a Diverse Society Chapter 13: Intelligence Testing Chapter 14: Academic Tracking Chapter 15: Criticisms of IQ Testing and Tracking Chapter 16: The Effects of the Proximate Environment on IQ and Academic Performance Chapter 17: The Commodification of Education Chapter 18: Federal Control Through Federal Funding Chapter 19: Parental Satisfaction and Student Performance Chapter 20: Charter Schools, Vouchers, and Politics School Vouchers Chapter 21: How Did We Get Here? Chapter 22: Following the Money Section III: Higher Education as a Quasi-Monopoly Chapter 23: Education and the End of Poverty Chapter 24: Higher Education in a Privatized-Keynesian World Chapter 25: The Democratization of Higher Education Chapter 26: The Gainful Employment Rule and Tacit Collusion Chapter 27: Declining Public Confidence and the Politicized Faculty Section IV: Improving Public and Higher Education Chapter 28: Neoliberalism, Priviatized Keynesianism, and the Debt Bomb Chapter 29: Rethinking Public Education Chapter 30: Egalitarianism and the Drive for Equal Outcomes Chapter 31: Reforming the Nation's Education System