4 ms·

They aren't being coerced but maybe they are being mislead just in the same way that Americans were mislead by for-profit degree mills. Neither the prospective

They aren't being coerced but maybe they are being mislead just in the same way that Americans were mislead by for-profit degree mills. Neither the prospective students nor their parents have any way of accessing the quality of the education that is being offered. Maybe in 10 to 15 years it turns out that all graduates amounted to nothing because the education was not good enough and they had no future anyway. But by then thousands of very poor families would have been paying large sums of money for years to put their children through this useless school system. Lots of potential for harm.

mrob 10y ago
In that case the objection should be the false advertising, not the profit.
- lumberjack 10y ago
  No. I think being for-profit is seen as a negative incentive if you are an education provider. Notice for example that while there are a lot of private universities in the US, there are very few for-profit ones and none that are prestigious.
  - mrob 10y ago
    Higher education is more about social signaling than actually providing education (STEM subjects being a partial exception). The main value is in the prestige, and prestige is highly path-dependent. The BIA schools are teaching numeracy and literacy, which is valuable to everybody and easily measured.
    - unescape 10y ago
      Higher education is more about social signaling than actually providing education (STEM subjects being a partial exception). That's a very limited perspective. I enjoy reading history books, many written by people who studied history and teach history at institutions of higher education. Are you saying that everyone is just going through the motions to send a social signal, except for STEM? Also you didn't address the question of for-profit vs private education. For-profit tends to be inferior because profit is the only mission; private institutions have a mix of goals, including solvency. BIA is by all accounts for-profit. The BIA schools are teaching numeracy and literacy Education at every level consists of showing someone how to act in the world. It's not just "this is what a number looks like, this is what a word looks like." I haven't been to a BIA school, but I've seen a lot of concerns that their method is to cheapen education by removing any human guidance, and divert money from the World Bank away from traditional education.

mrob 10y ago

In that case the objection should be the false advertising, not the profit.

lumberjack 10y ago
No. I think being for-profit is seen as a negative incentive if you are an education provider. Notice for example that while there are a lot of private universities in the US, there are very few for-profit ones and none that are prestigious.
- mrob 10y ago
  Higher education is more about social signaling than actually providing education (STEM subjects being a partial exception). The main value is in the prestige, and prestige is highly path-dependent. The BIA schools are teaching numeracy and literacy, which is valuable to everybody and easily measured.
  - unescape 10y ago
    Higher education is more about social signaling than actually providing education (STEM subjects being a partial exception). That's a very limited perspective. I enjoy reading history books, many written by people who studied history and teach history at institutions of higher education. Are you saying that everyone is just going through the motions to send a social signal, except for STEM? Also you didn't address the question of for-profit vs private education. For-profit tends to be inferior because profit is the only mission; private institutions have a mix of goals, including solvency. BIA is by all accounts for-profit. The BIA schools are teaching numeracy and literacy Education at every level consists of showing someone how to act in the world. It's not just "this is what a number looks like, this is what a word looks like." I haven't been to a BIA school, but I've seen a lot of concerns that their method is to cheapen education by removing any human guidance, and divert money from the World Bank away from traditional education.