privatization of higher ed

The California Faculty Association Winter 2006/07 magazine has a an article (p. 19) on the dangers of the privatization of higher education. The values of education (especially publicly-funded education) are not the values of the marketplace. In this view, the students are not first and foremost consumers, as in the corporate view. Some services--such as health care and education--are not best left to the marketplace.

When students are seen as consumers, then they are just full pockets waiting to be emptied. The New York Attorney General has launched an investigation into student loans and found that "educational" institutions are colluding with student loan companies to defraud (I don't think that's too harsh a word) the students. I'm certainly not anti-capitalism and I'm not even entirely opposed to certain business-like changes made in higher education (such as regular student feedback and improved student services), but its heart should be enabling intellectual development, not making money on the backs of those it is supposed to serve.