Why Problem-Solving Practices Trump Business Practices in Public Education

Business practices have long influenced U.S. education. Initially, public education aimed to create more skilled workers, using structures borrowed from businesses to organize mass instruction. Initially, this wide public education system for all students was overwhelmingly positive, but a growing decay of our educational system’s effectiveness has crept in during the intervening decades. This has led to revitalized efforts to improve education and a corresponding political drive to bring more business-like practices to the field. However, these renewed efforts to professionalize teaching and raise standards have failed to show any positive impact. By virtually every metric we have demonstrated that public education does not need more business-oriented practices. It needs to refocus on what the science suggests are the fundamental practices of learning itself: self-reflection and problem-solving. This suggests a bottom-up approach to education, which is surprisingly universal, can be built into the institutional structure itself to promote the broad success of students.

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