The Blackboard and the Bottom Line: Why Schools Can't Be Businesses

by Larry Cuban

"Ford Motor Company would not have survived the competition had it not been for an emphasis on results. We must view education the same way," the U.S. Secretary of Education declared in 2003. But is he right? In this provocative new book, Larry Cuban takes aim at the alluring cliche that schools should be more businesslike, and shows that in its long history in business-minded America, no one has shown that a business model can be successfully applied to education.In this straight-talking book, one of the most distinguished scholars in education charts the Gilded Age beginnings of the influential view that American schools should be organized to meet the needs of American businesses, and run according to principles of cost-efficiency, bottom-line thinking, and customer satisfaction.Not only are schools by their nature not businesslike, Cuban argues, but the attempt to run them along business lines leads to dangerous over-standardization--of tests, and of goals for our children. Why should we think that there is such a thing as one best school? Is "college for all" achievable--or even desirable? Even if it were possible, do we really want schools to operate as bootcamps for a workforce? Cuban suggests that the best business-inspired improvement for American education would be more consistent and sustained on-the-job worker training, tailored for the job to be done, and business leaders' encouragement--and adoption--of an ethic of civic engagement and public service.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 31, 2005

Reviews

[Angel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Once in a while I read books that may make a point or two, but are overall terrible. This was one of them. I read it back in 2005. Here are some of my notes from my journal back then:

>>From the title, this book suggested an interesting reading, as I am always interested in books about education. This one was written in what can only be described as a soporific and sluggish writing style.

I found interesting the historical parallels between the progressive movement of the late 19th century and the reform movements of the 1970s, both driven by business interests. Who says history does not repeat itself? Santayana was definitely right about those who fail to study history. Interesting also, to say the least, is the fact that business often tries to drive reforms in the midst of its own problems: mismanagement, bad CEOs, failures, so on, but people overlook these and keep believing for some reason that escapes me. People, some with good intentions, others with self-interest seem to be conveniently forgetful when it comes to the business community. It must be noted also that very often schools are blamed for social ills, and then society's "experts" turn around and expect those schools to fix those same social ills they decried. Talk about ironic.<<

And thinking about it three years later or so, clearly the situation has not changed. If anything, it has gotten worse, and yet we keep bailing big corporate interests instead of letting them fail as they should be allowed to do. After all, if they can be big boys when the times are good, when they screw up, let them fail and suffer the consequences of the risks they took instead of whining to the government to save them. And they, of course, are the same ones whining about how kids are poorly educated, etc. Is their example really what is needed to fix education? Food for thought, but this is not the book to really think about these issues.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made some interesting points about business-driven school reforms. Many of the assumptions cited by Cuban as the foundations for such reforms, which are unfounded or based on fallacies, are at the core of the current "reforms" occurring at my school.

[Morgan Barnard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larry Cuban's observations about public education are well-founded and mostly correct. I say mostly because it is a bit difficult to judge them, seeing as this book was published in 2004, and I was not a teacher during that time. However, during my three years in the realm of public educating, I can say that a lot of these observations are correct and still hold true today, 18 years later. I thought this so many times while reading, but I think it would be so incredibly interesting if he rewrote or added on to this book including today's education system. So many things have changed since 2004, in good ways and bad ways when it comes to public education. We have a "teacher shortage", computers and other technology is prevalent in almost every classroom, and there seems to be a trend of politicians, community members, and especially parents attacking teachers and blaming so much on us that is either not our fault or out of our control. Some of these themes were touched on in this book, and it shocked me to know that some things have been going on for a lot longer than I thought.
His seeming hate for technology in the classroom kind of makes me laugh because although it does have some negative consequences, it is so engrained in our learning now that getting rid of them is not the step anyone will take. The other thing that I personally disbelieved was his opinion and thoughts on school boards. Maybe it is just because I recently got out of a district where the school board is corrupt, but to me school boards seem to be more of a hindrance and, in severe cases, an obstacle in trying to make schools a better pace. In today's world, it seems to be parents and school boards vs. teachers. This is unacceptable of course, as even this book points out, we need to work together as a collective to improve schools.
I did think his writing kind of lost effect in the fourth and fifth chapters, as he kind of got disorganized with his ideas and rambled on a bit. However, at the end of the fifth chapter it picked up again, and the rest of the book read pretty smoothly.
The bottom line here is that schools should absolutely not be run like businesses. Are they? In a lot of ways, they definitely are. We can get into the habit of treating students like "products" and letting the standards be like laws we have to follow. I won't even mention the problems with standardized tests.
I am guilty of doing some of the things Cuban mentions in the book that are hurting students and schools, but it is difficult when it is considered part of your job. In this day and age of education, it is risky to try to do anything outside the box or against the grain.
I actually read this book in college. One of my favorite professors assigned it to me. I enjoyed the book a lot less then (as one often does with assigned reading), but I am so glad I reread it now that I actually have experience in the field of teaching. It means so much more to be now, and I can actually identify a lot of the things and agree with them based on my experiences.

[Azat Sultanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Start from the 2nd half of the book and it starts making sense. A lot of the time I found the writing style a bit too complicated though. Although the ideas are legit I believe it could have been expressed in an article. Bottom line: schools are not businesses. And now I can see it more clearly. Maybe I'll do a summary of this book some day.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fabulous philosophical look at the relationship between business and public education in the United States by one of the brightest people alive today. He very logically lays out the history of this relationship and then proceeds to explain why it hasn't lead to productive and lasting school reform. There is no educational jargon here. Cuban lays it all out in plain English. A must read for all who are interested in the future of public education in the U.S.

[Camille]

Andover - Memorial Hall Library
371.19 CUB