Tuesday 13 April 2010

Profit is not a dirty word

Whenever Labour get into difficulty they just lie about the opposition. They are currently insisting that the Tories are proposing that schools be run for profit. The Tories are not, however, they should.

Profit, despite what Socialists think is not a dirty word. Even when its applies to Schools.

Process is the engine of progress. It is profit that makes private enterprise deliver more of what people want, when people want. Do we seriously think that instead of the profit motive in food we would be better off closing down Tesco’s and Sainsbury, the local restaurants and Cafe’s so we could have a National Food Service instead? No, whenever the profit motive is applied you start getting better results. Does Labour argue that the food available in this country is rubbish because they take money out through profits? Well not yet they don’t.

Am I saying that a profit making school is automatically bad and a state school is automatically good? No, of course it’s not that simple, in the US there are some excellent charter schools and some crap ones. But it’s not actually the American model that Gove proposes to follow, it’s the Swedish model, only not the bit about allowing profit making. The Swedish have repeatedly told the Tories that if they want the best schools they need to allow profit making schools, new schools roll out much quicker that way and they innovate more. I only hope Gove listens to their experience and does allow profit making, we can reverse the decline in standards a lot quicker that way.

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