Over the past few decades, Americans have increasingly viewed education as a private good – they have seen it as something that can benefit them personally (chiefly, by awarding ostensibly meritocratic privilege).

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This, of course, runs counter to the view of education as a public good — a process that strengthens communities and the republic. These two aims exist in tension with one another.

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Sometimes they are not in conflict, yet often what’s best for individuals is not what’s best for all of us collectively. Privatization-favoring policy elites, like Betsy DeVos, argue that when such a tension arises, individuals should win. The private should trump the public.

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This is incredibly dangerous. But it can be hard for people to see.

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Right now, as schools are thinking about re-opening, we can see this danger more clearly than ever. Private schools, which serve the private good, are planning to reopen. They are doing so because they cater to a paying clientele in a free market.

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What’s best for individuals is for schools to reopen, so they can get back to work and their children can get back to learning.

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Public schools, on the other hand, are not governed by market logic catering to private interests. Instead, they are governed by democratic politics, and oriented toward the common good. What’s best for communities in the nation is to stop the virus.

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In sum, we can see the troubling tilt in education — toward private aims — and what it might mean for the common good.

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