Globalization of Education

Abstract

Abstract

This article examines the political, economic, and social forces shaping global education policies. Of particular concern is global acceptance of human capital ideology and its stress on education as the key to economic growth. Human capital ideology encompasses consumerism which is a driving force in global economics. This article discusses the role of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank, and global education businesses in globalizing education policies and human capital ideology. An alternative to human capital ideology is an educational paradigm based on the goals of longevity and happiness.

Introduction

There is an increasing global uniformity of educational goals, organization, and curriculum. This is a result of almost universal acceptance of human capital ideology and consumerist economics. This article explores the support given to a human capital consumerist ideology by multinational corporations, international organizations, such as the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, multinational corporations, and global education businesses. In addition, global education systems are promoting English as the global language.

Global testing businesses, such as Pearson and Educational Testing Services, and the global for-profit shadow education services, such as Kumon, Sylvan Learning Centers, and Kaplan, have a financial stake in promoting a human capital model of education based on a system of government requirements for testing as a means of sorting students for the labor market.

In the following pages of this article, I analyze the above factors in the globalization of education. In addition, I provide recent criticism of the human capital model of education and an alternative model to global school systems. The article begins with a general definition of education globalization followed by a discussion of the human capital education model and its promoters.

Globalization of education refers to the worldwide discussions, processes, and institutions affecting local educational practices and policies. What comprises this global education superstructure? There are international organizations that directly and indirectly influence national school systems. There are multinational education corporations and schools. Government and professionals engage in global discussions about school policies. In the first issue of the journal Globalisation, Societies and Education (2003), the editors stated that globalization of education would be considered as an intertwined set of global processes affecting education, such as worldwide discourses on human capital, economic development, and multiculturalism; intergovernmental organizations; information and communication technology; nongovernment organizations; and multinational corporations. 1

The concept of globalized educational institutions and discourses developed after the term “globalization” was coined by the economist Theodore Levitt in 1985 to describe changes in global economics affecting production, consumption, and investment. 2 The term was quickly applied to political and cultural changes that affect in common ways large segments of the world’s peoples. One of these common global phenomenon is schooling. As the opening editorial in the first edition of Globalisation, Societies and Education—the very founding of this journal indicates the growing importance of globalization and education as a field of study—states “formal education is the most commonly found institution and most commonly shared experience of all in the contemporary world.” 3 However, globalization of education does not mean that all schools are the same as indicated by studies of differences between the local and the global. 4

In the 1990s, the language of globalization entered discourses about schooling. Government and business groups began talking about the necessity of schools meeting the needs of the global economy. For example, the United States’ organization Achieve Inc. formed in 1996 by the National Governors Associations and CEO of major corporations for the purpose of school reform declared that “High school is now the front line in America’s battle to remain competitive on the increasingly competitive international economic stage.” 5 The organization provided the following definition of the global economy in a publication title that suggested the linkages made by politicians and business people between education and globalization: “America’s High Schools: The Front Line in the Battle for Our Economic Future.”

In the same fashion, the European Commission’s document Teaching and Learning: On Route to the Learning Society describes three basic causes of globalization: “the advent of the information society, scientific and technical civilisation and the globalisation of the economy. All three contribute to the development of a learning society.” 6

The growth of worldwide educational discourses and institutions led to similar national educational agendas, particularly the concept that education should be viewed as an economic investment with the goal of developing human capital or better workers to promote economic growth. Consequently, educational discourses around the world often refer to human capital, lifelong learning for improving job skills, and economic development. Also, the global economy is sparking a mass migration of workers resulting in global discussions about multicultural education.

Intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank, are promoting global educational agendas that reflect discourses about human capital, economic development, and multiculturalism. Information and communication technology is speeding the global flow of information and creating a library of world knowledges. Global nongovernment organizations, particularly those concerned with human rights and environmentalism, are trying to influence school curricula throughout the world. Multinational corporations, particularly those involved in publishing, information, testing, for-profit schooling, and computers, are marketing their products to governments, schools, and parents around the world.

Dominant Global Educational Ideology: Human Capital and Consumerism

Today, the dominant educational ideology is human capital economics and consumerism. Human capital economics defines the primary goal of education to be economic growth. Human capital economics contains a vision of school as a business preparing workers for businesses. Consequently, human capital economics values knowledge or curriculum according to how it meets the needs of the economic system. The conceptualization of education as a business includes the use of accounting methods that rely on standardized high-stakes testing to measure productivity. Workers, particularly administrators and teachers, within the education business, are made accountable for ensuring productivity as measured by the results of student assessments. The same conceptual framework is used to evaluate how schools and school systems are organized.

The concept of human capital and the knowledge economy can be traced to the work of economists Theodore Shultz and Gary Becker. 7 In 1961, Theodore Schultz pointed out that “economists have long known that people are an important part of the wealth of nations.” 8 Shultz argued that people invested in themselves through education to improve their jobs opportunities. In a similar fashion, nations could invest in schools as a stimulus for economic growth.

In his 1964 book Human Capital, Gary Becker asserts that economic growth now depends on the knowledge, information, ideas, skills, and health of the workforce. Investments in education, he argued, could improve human capital which would contribute to economic growth. 9 Later, he used the word knowledge economy: “An economy like that of the United States is called a capitalist economy, but the more accurate term is human capital or knowledge capital economy.” 10 Becker claimed that human capital represented three-fourths of the wealth of the United States and that investment in education would be the key to further economic growth. 11 Following a similar line of reasoning, Daniel Bell in 1973 coined the term “post-industrial” and predicted that there would be shift from blue-collar to white-collar labor requiring a major increase in educated workers. 12 This notion received support in the 1990s from Peter Drucker who asserted that knowledge rather than ownership of capital generates new wealth and that power was shifting from owner and managers of capital to knowledge workers. 13 During the same decade, Robert Reich claimed that inequality between people and nations was a result of differences in knowledge and skills. Invest in education, he urged, these inequalities would be reduced. Growing income inequality between individuals and nations, according to Robert Reich (1991), was a result of differences in knowledge and skills. 14

The knowledge economy was also linked to new forms of communication and networking. Referring to the new economy of the late twentieth century, Manuel Castells wrote in The Rise of the Network Society: “I call it informational, global, and networked to identify its fundamental distinctive features and to emphasize their intertwining.” 15 By informational, he meant the ability of corporations and governments to “generate, process, and apply efficiently knowledge—based information.” 16 It was global because capital, labor, raw materials, management, consumption, and markets were linked through global networks. “It is networked,” he contended, because “productivity is generated through and competition is played out in a global network of interaction between business networks.” 17 Information or knowledge, he claimed, was now a product that increased productivity.

President Obama in his book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream reflects the language of education for the knowledge economy: “in a knowledge-based economy where eight of the nine fast-growing occupations this decade require scientific or technological skills, most workers are going to need some form of higher education to fill the jobs of the future.” 18

Human Capital and Consumerism

Human capital education is also link to consumerism which is a driving force global economics. In a world of rising shopping malls, “Shop ‘till you drop” is the clarion call of our age. Human capital education promises students higher incomes which can be used to purchase more and more products.

The triumph of consumerism was made possible by the related actions of schools, advertising, and media. Mass-consumer culture integrates consumerism into all aspects of life from birth to death, including, but not limited to, education, leisure time activities, the popular arts, the home, travel, and personal imagination. Mass-consumer culture captures the fantasy world of people with brand names and fashions that promise personal transformation, the vicarious thrill of imagining the glamorous lives of media celebrities, and the promise of escape from hard work through packaged travel and cruises to an envisioned paradise.

The ideology of consumerism was articulated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the appearance of industrial and agricultural abundance. As conceived by the turn-of-the-century economist Simon Patten, consumerism reconciled the Puritan virtue of hard work with the abundance of consumer goods. From the Puritan standpoint, the danger of abundant goods was more leisure time and possible moral decay. In Simon Patten’s 1907 book, The New Basis of Civilization, he argued that the consumption of new products and leisure-time activities would spur people to work harder. In Patten’s words, “The new morality does not consist in saving, but in expanding consumption.” 19 Patten explained, “In the course of consumption . . . the new wants become complex . . . [as a result the] worker steadily and cheerfully chooses the deprivations of this week . . . Their investment in to-morrow’s goods enables society to increase its output and to broaden its productive areas.” 20

The professionalization and expansion of advertising in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was a key contribution to the creation of a global mass-consumer culture. Advertising prompted desires for new products; it convinced consumers that existing products were unfashionable, and therefore, obsolete; and it made brand names into playthings in personal fantasies. The advertising profession transformed the capitalist model of buyers making rational choices in a free market into a consumerist model where the buyer was driven by irrational emotions associated with particular brand names and/or products.

Consumer Citizen and Ideology

Consumerism is strikingly different from other ideologies that place an emphasis on either social harmony or an abandonment of worldly concerns. Many religions value the denial of materialistic desires. Different branches of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity reject the way of life represented by the consumer seeking personal transformation through the buying of goods. Confucianism emphasizes the importance of social harmony over individual pursuit of wealth. Today, fundamentalist Islamic governments, such as in Iran and Afghanistan, are attempting to protect their populations from what they consider to be degenerate Western consumerism. 21

Below is a list of the basic ideas that form the ideology of consumerism. Of course, consumerism is aligned with notions of human capital education.

Basic ideas of Consumerist Ideology

1. Work is a virtue and it keeps people from an indolent life that could result in vice and crime

2. Equality means equality of opportunity to pursue wealth and consume

3. Accumulation of material goods is evidence of personal merit

4. The rich are rich because of good character and the poor are poor because they lack virtue

5. The major financial goal of society should be economic growth and the continual production of new goods

6. Consumers and producers should be united in efforts to maximize the production and consumption of goods

7. People will want to work hard so that they can consume an endless stream of new products and new forms of commodified leisure

8. Differences in ability to consume (or income) is a social virtue because it motivates people to work harder

9. Advertising is good because it motivates people to work harder to consume products

10. The consumer is irrational and can be manipulate in his/her purchases

11. The consumption of products will transform one’s life

Criticisms of Human Capital Education Ideology

One criticism of focusing schools on preparing students for the needs of the knowledge economy is that there are not enough jobs in the knowledge economy to absorb school graduates into skilled jobs and that the anticipated increased demand for knowledge workers has not occurred. Also, so-called knowledge work has been routinized allowing for the hiring of less skilled workers. “It is, therefore,” Phillip Brown and Hugh Lauder conclude, “not just a matter of the oversupply of skills that threatens the equation between high skills and high income, where knowledge is ‘routinized’ it can be substituted with less-skilled and cheaper workers at home or further afield.” 22

Brown and Lauder argue that multinational corporations are able to keep salaries low by encouraging nations to invest in schools that prepare for the knowledge economy. For instance, there has been an increased demand for higher education in India where computer programmers annually earned in 1997 between US$2,200-2,900 as compared to programmers in the United States who earned in 1997 between US$35,500 to 39,000. 23 The result has been a brain migration from India to the United States resulting in putting a lid on wage increases in the host country while depleting the human capital resources of India.

Another effect is so-called brain waste where well-educated school graduates are unable to find jobs commensurate with their skills. This results in dampening income growth for college graduates in industrial countries and forcing many into occupations not requiring a high level of education. This phenomenon is called “brain waste.” Brain waste can occur in high income countries when there are only a limited number of jobs requiring high levels of education. Brown and Lauder write, “Britain, along with America, is not a high-skilled, high-waged economy but one in which this accurately reflects only a minority of workers, who stand alongside an increasingly large proportion of well-qualified but low-waged workers, who in turn stand beside the low-skilled and low-waged.” 24

As a result of pressure to expand educational opportunities to meet the demand of the global knowledge economy, Brown and Lauder conclude, “vast numbers of highly-skilled are available in developing economies, the global expansion of tertiary education has outstripped the demand for high-skilled workers, creating downward pressure on the incomes of skilled workers in developed countries along with some upward pressure on those in emerging economies.” 25

In addition, educated workers from developing nations have become part of the so-called “brain migration” moving from their countries to wealthier nations where salaries are higher. Thus a developing nation invests in education, but does not receive the expected rewards from improving its knowledge economy. Some countries have experienced extraordinary depletion of their skilled and educated workforce. According to statistics provided by the OECD, 89 percent of skilled workers have immigrated from Guyana; 85.1 percent from Jamaica, 63.3 percent from Gambia, 62.2 from Fiji, 46.9 from Ghana, and 38.4 percent from Kenya. 26

A good percentage of these immigrants are unable to obtain in their host countries employment commensurate with their education. This is referred to as “brain waste.” For example, statistics released by the United States Census Bureau shows that many immigrants with bachelor’s degrees are unable to obtain skilled jobs in the United States. The most successful group of immigrants with college degrees who were able to gain skilled employment were from Ireland (69%), the United Kingdom (65%), Australia (67%), and Canada (64%). Even these percentages suggest some level of brain waste. However, in comparison to other countries, these percentages are high. In contrast, immigrants with college degrees able to gain skilled employment were low for many countries such as Guatemala (21%), former Yugoslavia (31%), Poland (33%), Italy (38%) and Korea (33%). 27

The oversupply of educated workers, it could be argued, depresses wages to the advantage of employers. Therefore, arguments for the knowledge economy may have a disrupting effect on human lives and may cause national educational expenditures to favor higher education. Seeking high paying jobs citizens may pressure governments to provide more opportunities for higher education or stimulate the development of private higher education institutions. This demand might redirect government money away from support of needed social programs such as those for health, nutrition, and shelter. The result might be frustrated college graduates who face the prospect of “brain waste’ and seek global employment through “brain migration.” As needed social programs are neglected, increasing numbers of college graduates become discontented.

Economist Andrew Hacker criticizes the very foundation of human capital arguments. Human capital economists premise their arguments on the fact that growth in school attendance parallels the growth of the economy. But it is a big leap from this fact to say that increased education causes economic growth. Hacker flips the causal relationship around and argues that economic growth provides the financial resources to fund educational expansion and offer youth an entertaining interlude in life. Hacker notes that much of the original funding of higher education came from innovative industrialists who were not college graduates. Today, college dropouts lead the list of innovative developers, such as Larry Ellison (Oracle), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (Apple), and Michael Dell (Dell).

Hacker’s argument does not mean that schooling is not important for jobs. Even high tech instrument jobs require some high school education. However, human capitalists may have oversold their argument about education causing economic growth and being necessary for global competition. First, the state of the global economy and jobs is uncertain and constantly changing. Secondly, there may be an overeducation of the population causing educational inflation. Inflation refers to employers increasing the educational requirements of jobs when there is an overabundance of graduates. In this situation, the economic value of a high school or college degree declines when there is an overabundance of well-schooled workers.

Are jobs really tied to getting more schooling? Not according to economist Andrew Hacker. In a review of The Race between Education and Technology by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz, Hacker questions the argument that more schooling, particularly more higher education, is necessary for employment in today’s job markets. To check this assertion, Hacker sat down with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-2009 Edition. Shockingly, at least for those saying go to college to get a job, Hacker finds that in the future the number of jobs operating high-tech instruments will outnumber the future jobs requiring college-trained scientists and engineers. High-tech instrument occupations require only a high school education and the training to use the instrument is usually done at the workplace. For example, and this is only a short listing, these high-tech instrument occupations include gynecologic sonography, avionics equipment mechanics, semiconductor processing, air traffic controlling, endoscopic cameras, and blood bank clinical work. In the United States, engineering occupations will grow about 10 percent by 2016 which means that the projected number of 2016 engineering graduates will be four times larger than the number of openings. The same small growth is predicted for occupations employing college-graduated physicists and mathematicians.

In practice some businesses enterprises disregard the quality of workers’ schooling when they train employees at the work site. Consider the decision by auto manufacturers to locate in states of the United States with low wages and no unions but with high dropout rates: Nissan, Coffee County, Tennessee, 26.3% school dropout rate; BMW, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, 26.9% school dropout rate; Honda, St. Clair County, Alabama, 28.7% school dropout rate; and Toyota, Union County, Mississippi, 31.5% school dropout rate. Hacker argues that these companies didn’t care about local school quality because worker training was on the job. Based on the above arguments more schooling may not result in higher paying jobs or economic growth.

OECD and Human Capital Theory>

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a major force in global testing and in supporting human capital education for a knowledge economy. OECD’s global testing products, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are creating global standards for the knowledge required to function in what OECD defines as the everyday life of a global economy. Also, the tests are serving as an “Academic Olympiad” with nations comparing the scores of their students with those of other nations. The result is national education policy leaders trying to plan their curriculum to meet the challenge of OECD testing particularly preparation for TIMSS. Wanting to impress their national leaders, school officials hope their students do well on these tests in comparison to other countries. The consequence is a trend to uniformity national curricula as school leaders attempt to prepare their students to do well on the test. Writing about the effect of PISA and TIMSS on world education culture, David Baker and Gerald LeTendre assert that, “After the first set of TIMSS results became public, the United States went into a kind of soul searching . . . The release of the more recent international study on OECD nations called PISA led Germany into a national education crisis. Around the world, countries are using the results of international tests as a kind of Academic Olympiad, serving as a referendum on their school system’s performance.” 28

The potential global influence of PISA is vast since the participating member nations and partners represent, according to OECD, 90 percent of the world economy. These assessments are on a three year cycle beginning in 2000 with each assessment year devoted to a particular topic. For instance, international assessment of reading is scheduled for 2009, mathematics for 2012 and Science for 2015. 29 OECD promotes PISA as an important element in the global knowledge economy: “PISA seeks to measure how well young adults, at age 15 and therefore approaching the end of compulsory schooling, are prepared to meet the challenges of today’s knowledge societies—what PISA refers to as ‘literacy’.” 30

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría echoed the dominant global discourse on education and the knowledge economy:

In a highly competitive globalized economy, knowledge, skills and know-how are key factors for productivity, economic growth and better living conditions . . . Our estimates show that adding one extra year to the average years of schooling increases GDP per capita by 4 to 6 per cent. Two main paths of transmission can explain this result: First, education builds human capital and enables workers to be more productive. Second, education increases countries’ capacity to innovate—an indispensable prerequisite for growth and competitiveness in today’s global knowledge economy. 31

OECD links education to economic growth. OECD’s 1961 founding document states as its goal: “to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy.” 32 From its original membership of twenty nations it has expanded to thirty of the richest nations of the world. In addition, OECD provides expertise and exchanges ideas with more than 100 other countries including the least developed countries in Africa. 33

In keeping with its concerns with economic growth, OECD promotes the role of education in economic development. Along with economic growth, OECD leaders express concern about nations having shared values to ensure against social disintegration and crime. The stated values of education according to OECD are: “Both individuals and countries benefit from education. For individuals, the potential benefits lay in general quality of life and in the economic returns of sustained, satisfying employment. For countries, the potential benefits lie in economic growth and the development of shared values that underpin social cohesion.” 34

To help achieve these education benefits to member nations and cooperating nations, OECD:

• Develops and reviews policies to enhance the efficiency and the effectiveness of education provisions and the equity with which their benefits are shared;

• Collects detailed statistical information on education systems, including measures of the competence levels of individuals;

• Reviews and analyzes policies related to aid provided by OECD members for expansion of education and training in developing nations. 35

OECD operates four important education programs: Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), the Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE), the Programme on Educational Building (PEB), and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (OECD, 2006; OECD, 2007d). In recent years, these programs supported educational privatization in the context of free markets. Rizvi & Lingard state, “OECD . . . has largely constituted globalization in a performative way . . . [including for education] marketization and privatization on the one hand and strong systems of accountability on the other.” 36 A defender of OECD, the Deputy Director for Education for OECD, claimed that OECD’s acceptance of these policies was “because these tendencies prevail in the world of which it is an extricable part. Yes, it is a think tank, but as with all our thoughts, those of the OECD are embedded in the lifeworlds and cultural settings of its members.” 37

The OECD’s CERI offers the world a large collection of publications and statistics including case studies, country surveys, research publications, and reports. 38 OECD’s IMHE supports the global marketing of higher education: “Higher education is undergoing far-reaching change . . . Among the changes are shifts in the balance between state and market, global and local, public and private, mass education and individualisation, and competition and cooperation.” 39

OECD is contributing to a world culture of schooling through its testing, research, and higher education programs. In fact, one of its programs promotes the international sharing of educational ideas:

The OECD Programme on Educational Building (PEB) promotes the exchange and analysis of policy, research and experience in all matters related to educational building. The planning and design of educational facilities—schools, colleges and universities—has an impact on educational outcomes which is significant but hard to quantify. 40

While OECD policies do influence developing nations and the organization’s data collection reflects concern about poor countries, the major concern is the economies of member nations. In other words, what problems are faced by the world’s wealthiest nations in educating their populations for competition in the global knowledge economy? This difference in emphasis on developed as contrasted to developing nations is captured in the definition of the knowledge economy given in a 2007 OECD book Human Capital: “In developed economies, the value of knowledge and information in all their forms is becoming ever more apparent, a trend that is being facilitated by the rapid spread of high-speed information technology [author’s emphasis].” 41

World Bank and Human Capital Education Theory

“Today,” declares the 2007 official guide to the World Bank, “the World Bank Group is the world’s largest funder of education.” 42 Founded in 1944, the World Bank has provided educational loans to developing nations based on the idea that investment in education is the key to economic development. 43 Educational improvement became a goal of the World Bank in 1968 when the then president of the Bank Robert McNamara announced, “Our aim here will be to provide assistance where it will contribute most to economic development. This will mean emphasis on educational planning, the starting point for the whole process of educational improvement.” 44 McNamara went on explain that it would mean an expansion of the World Bank’s educational activities. The World Bank continues to present its educational goals in the framework of economic development: “Education is central to development . . . It is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and lays a foundation for sustained economic growth.” 45

The World Bank and the United Nations share a common educational network. The World Bank entered into a mutual agreement with the United Nations in 1947 which specified that the Bank would act as an independent specialized agency of the United Nations and as an observer in the United Nations’ General Assembly. 46

The World Bank supports the United Nations’ Millennium Goals and Targets which were endorsed by 189 countries at the 2000 United Nations Millennium Assembly. The Millennium Goals directly addressing education issues are:

• Goal 2 Achieve Universal Primary Education: Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

• Goal 3 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and at all levels of education no later than 2015.

These two Millennium Goals were part of the Education for All program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which had established as two of its global goals the provision of free and compulsory primary education for all and the achieving of gender parity by 2005 and gender equality by 2015. 47 Highlighting the intertwined activities of the World Bank and United Nations agencies is the fact that these two goals were a product of the 1990 World Conference on Education for All convened by the World Bank, UNESCO, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This World Conference was attended by representatives from 155 governments. 48

The Education for All program is coordinated with another series of organizations and networks cited by UNESCO as:

• International Bureau of Education (IBE), Geneva, Switzerland.

• International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Paris, France and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

• UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), Hamburg, Germany.

• Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), Moscow, Russian Federation.

• International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), Caracas, Venezuela.

• International Institute for Capacity-Building in Africa (IICBA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

• European Centre for Higher Education (CEPES), Bucharest, Romania.

• International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (UNEVOC), Bonn, Germany.

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), Montreal, Canada. 49

These global networks are linked to nongovernment organizations (NGOS) through what UNESCO calls the Collective Consultation of Non-Governmental Organizations on EFA (CCNGO/EFA). UNESCO describes this Collective:

It connects UNESCO and several hundred NGOs, networks and coalitions around the world through a coordination group composed of eight NGO representatives (fiveregional focal points, two international focal points and one representative of the UNESCO/NGO Liaison Committee), and a list serve for information sharing. 50

Discussions about the knowledge economy occur on the networks linking the World Bank to governments, global intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and multinational corporations. In its book Constructing Knowledge Societies, the World Bank declares, “The ability of a society to produce, select, adapt, commercialize, and use knowledge is critical for sustained economic growth and improved living standards.” 51 The book states, “Knowledge has become the most important factor in economic development.” 52 The World Bank states that its assistance for EKE [Education for the Knowledge Economy] is aimed at helping countries adapt their entire education systems to the new challenges of the “learning” economy in “two complementary ways . . . Formation of a strong human capital base . . . [and] Construction of an effective national innovation system.” 53 The creation of a national innovation system for assisting schools to adapt to the knowledge economy creates another global network. The World Bank describes this network: “A national innovation system is a well-articulated network of firms, research centers, universities, and think tanks that work together to take advantage of the growing stock of global knowledge, assimilate and adapt it to local needs, and create new technology.” 54

Nothing better expresses the World Bank’s commitment to the idea of a knowledge economy and the role of education in developing human capital then its publication Lifelong Learning in the Global Knowledge Economy. 55 The book offers a roadmap for developing countries on how to prepare their populations for the knowledge economy in order to bring about economic growth. The role of the World Bank is to loan money to ensure the growth of an educated labor force that can apply knowledge to increase productivity. These loans, according to Bank policies, might provide support to both public and private educational institutions. 56 In the frame work of public-private partnerships, the World Bank supports private education in developing countries when governments cannot afford to support public schools for all:

However, in many countries there are other providers of education. Private education encompasses a wide range of providers including for-profit schools (that operate as enterprises), religious schools, non-profit schools run by NGOs, publicly funded schools operated by private boards, and community owned schools. In other words, there is a market for education. In low income countries excess demand for schooling results in private supply when the state cannot afford schooling for all. 57

Global Education Business

The global education business is supported by human capital education ideology. The 1995 creation of the WTO opened the door to the prospect of free trade in educational materials and services, and the marketing of higher education. The WTO was an outgrowth of 1948 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which was called the “third institution” along with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The general goal was to reduce national tariffs to promote free trade in goods. The Uruguay Round of trade talks from 1986-1994 resulted in the WTO, GATS, and TRIPs. GATS expanded the idea of free trade from just free trade in goods to free trade in services. GATS’ Article XXVIII provides the following definition: “ ‘supply of a service’ includes the production, distribution, marketing, sale and delivery of a service.” 58 Educational services are included under this definition. TRIPs provides protection for global sale of called knowledge-related products.

What types of educational services are covered by GATS? Writing about the effect of GATS on higher education, Jane Knight used the following classifications of educational services. 59 First, according to Knight’s classification, is “cross-border supply” which includes distance learning, e-learning, and virtual universities. “Consumption abroad” is the largest share of the global market in educational services involving students who go to another country to study. “Commercial presence” means the establishment of facil ities in another country, such as branch campuses and franchising arrangements in another country. The travel of scholars, researchers and teachers to another country to work falls under the classification of “presence of natural persons.” 60

The international trade in educational services is aided by TRIPs which protects intellectual property sold by individuals, universities, corporations, and other institutions. Its protection is broader than traditional concerns with copyrighted printed material. TRIPs also covers software, compilation of data, recorded media, digital on-line media, and patents on industrial, health, and agricultural technologies. Also included are integrated circuit designs, utility models, industrial designs, trademarks, trade names, and geographical names. 61

GATS and TRIPs aids in the transformation of higher education into a business enterprise that sells services and knowledge. 62 As Helen Raduntz explains:

Universities as idea—generating powerhouses are prime targets for investment, by those knowledge-based industries involved in telecommunications, computers, electronics, and biotechnology. As lucrative sites of investment, their potential has been enhanced by the protection of ideas, as intellectual property generated by research, under copyright and patent laws and global trade agreements. 63

Global Marketing of For-Profit Education and Knowledge Industries

“Thank You For Your Interest in the Premier Brands in the Education Industry!” is emblazoned on the website of Educate, Inc. 64 The company embodies the entanglement of politics, universities, and private financiers in the new world of global for-profit education and knowledge industries, such as publishing and information services. What are the consequences of the growth of these multinational corporations? While the actual impact is difficult to measure there are certain hypotheses that can be made. First is that global knowledge industries might be creating a level of uniformity in global education culture as the result of the marketing of for-profit schools, the international use of testing products, global databases, and, most importantly, the publishing of textbooks for global markets. Secondly, global knowledge industries might try to exert corporate control of the ideologies disseminated through schools around the world. While it is always possible that textbooks might reflect differing ideologies it seems unlikely that global publishers would be distributing textbooks that contained ideas that threatened their control of global markets. Thirdly, globally marketed schools and worldwide information and publishing corporations might transform and displace local cultures. Again, these are only speculative hypothesizes without any concrete proof.

There is a burgeoning global market for corporately-controlled for-profit schools. In 2006, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that for-profit colleges were the fastest-growing sector in higher education with the eight largest corporations having a combined market value of about $26 billion. 65

For-profits are undergoing a period of global expansion. For instance, the Laureate Education Inc. has a presence in 15 countries serving 240,000 students with ownership in the United States of Walden University and 23 other universities in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. 66 Laureate Education Inc. claims to potential investors that the global market for for-profit higher education is increasing because of the worldwide expansion of the middle class, expanding youth populations in Latin America and Asia, the need for educated human capital and, most importantly, the difficulties faced by governments in financing public higher education. 67 In 2007, the company announced: “Laureate International Universities, one of the world’s largest networks of private higher education institutions, and the University of Liverpool today announced the expansion of a unique partnership to leverage programs and expertise to create the next generation of international programs for students worldwide.” 68

In September of 2007, Laureate made a dramatic move to capture the Asian market when Douglas L. Becker its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer announced that he and his family were moving to Hong Kong to ensure the expansion of the company and to establish Asian headquarters. In an example of the international financing of for-profit education, Becker and an investor group engineered a $3.8-billion private-equity buyout of the company in June of 2007. The international investor group included Harvard University, Citigroup, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, global philanthropist George Soros, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR); S.A.C. Capital Management, LLC; SPG Partners; Bregal Investments; Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec; Sterling Capital; Makena Capital; Torreal S.A.; and Brenthurst Funds. In reporting the move, a Chronicle of Higher Education article commented, “Mr. Becker devised the transformation of Laureate into an internationally focused higher-education company from its roots as a tutoring business called Sylvan Learning Systems.” 69

The global publishing and information conglomerates are vast. With home headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, Holtzbrinck Publishers describes its company as: “active in more than 80 countries and publishes works in both print and electronic media, providing information, disseminating knowledge, and serving the needs of educational, professional, and general readership markets.” 70 In the United States alone, the company owns Audio Renaissance, Bedford/St. Martin’s, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Henry Holt and Company, Palgrave Macmillan, Picador, St. Martin’s Press, Tor Books, W.H. Freeman, Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing Group and Worth Publishers. 71 Informa, which advertises that it provides “Specialist Information for Global Markets,” owns an array of publications including Taylor & Francis Group comprised of Routledge, Garland Science, and Psychology Press. 72

Pearson, headquartered in England, boasts that it “is an international media company with world-leading publishing and data services for education, business information and consumer publishing.” 73 With 29,000 employees working in 60 countries, Pearson lists its valuable assets as the Financial Times, Penguin, Dorling Kindersley, Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley and Longman. The company’s website declares: “From our roots as the world’s largest book publisher, we’ve grown to provide a range of related services: testing and learning software for students of all ages; data for financial institutions; public information systems for government departments.” 74 Pearson Education North Asia has offices in China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan and offers pre-K to adult English Language Teaching (ELT) resources, including Longman dictionaries, companion Web sites, and teaching tools. Pearson Education Indochina, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam and Pearson Education India, offers preK-12 ELT, materials for higher education, and professional/technical print and online resources. In India, the company sells 60 locally produced books for school and college.

The McGraw-Hill Companies boldly displays its global economic philosophy on its company website:

McGraw-Hill aligns with three enduring global needs

• the need for Capital

• the need for Knowledge

• the need for Transparency

“These are the foundations necessary to foster economic growth and to allow individuals, markets and societies to reach their full potential.” 75

In the 1990s McGraw-Hill began focusing on three global markets-education, financial services, and media. With headquarters in New York City and offices in 10 Asia-Pacific, 11 Latin American, and 8 European Countries, McGraw-Hill is a major player in global publishing and information services. Like other global conglomerates, McGraw-Hill is involved in a range of activities including magazines, broadcasting, television, investor education, research services, network information solutions, databases, geospatial tools, and, of course, education publishing. 76 Education publishing is broken down into a number of divisions including McGraw-Hill Education International with education offices and individual websites for Asia, Australia, Europe, Spain, Latin America, Canada, the United Kingdom and India. The company is also involved in testing programs through CTB/McGraw-Hill division. 77

Many of these global information and publishing corporations target developing countries such as Springer Science+Business Media corporation which states in its Developing Countries Initiatives: “As a global scientific, technical and medical publisher, we are aware of the role we play in the distribution of scientific information and access to knowledge and research. We make a concerted effort to ensure that the knowledge we manage is also accessible in those parts of the world that are still developing.” 78

Global Testing Services: Standardization of Subjects and Global Intercultural English

What is the cultural effect on students preparing for the same examinations? Does the global marketing of tests and testing programs of international organizations contribute to a uniformity of world education culture and promotion of English as the global language? Is worldwide testing leading to a global standardization of knowledge in professional fields? At this time any answer would have to be speculative since there is no concrete evidence about the effect of global testing programs. However, one could argue that if students worldwide are preparing for similar tests than they are being exposed to a uniform educational and professional culture which might contribute to creating a world culture.

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational (IEA) first demonstrated the possibility of making comparisons between test scores of different nations. Founded in 1967 with origins dating back to a UNESCO gathering in 1958, the IEA initially attempted to identify through testing effective educational methods that could be shared between nations. According to the organization’s official history, the original group of psychometricians, educational psychologists, and sociologists thought of education as global enterprise to be evaluated by national comparisons of test scores. They “viewed the world as a natural educational laboratory, where different school systems experiment in different ways to obtain optimal results in the education of their youth.” 79 They assumed that educational goals were similar between nations but that the methods of achieving those goals were different. International testing, it was believed, would reveal to the world community the best educational practices. The organization tried to prove that large-scale cross-cultural testing was possible when between 1959-62 they tested 13-year-olds in 12 countries in mathematics, reading comprehension, geography, science, and non-verbal ability. The results of this project showed, according to an IEA statement, that “it is possible to construct common tests and questionnaires that ‘work’ cross-culturally. Furthermore, the study revealed that the effects of language differences can be minimized through the careful translation of instruments.” 80

Besides demonstrating the possibility of global testing programs, IEA claimed to have an effect on the curriculum of participating nations. After a 1970 seminar on Curriculum Development and Evaluation involving 23 countries, IEA officials claimed that “this seminar had a major influence on curriculum development in at least two-thirds of the countries that attended.” 81 Through the years IEA has conducted a number international testing programs and studies, including First International Mathematics Study (FIMS), International Mathematics Study (SIMS), International Science Study (ISS), Preprimary Education (PPP), Computers in Education Study (COMPED), Information Technology in Education (ITE), Civic Education Study (CIVED), and Languages in Education Study (LES).

In 1995, IEA worked with OECD to collect data for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). IEA officials called 1995 TIMSS “the largest and most ambitious study of comparative education undertaken.” 82 And they claimed that: “It was made possible by virtue of IEA experience and expertise, developed through the years of consecutive studies, which saw research vision combining with practical needs as defined by educational policy-makers.” 83

Today, IEA remains a possible source for creating uniform worldwide educational practices. The organization’s stated goal is to create global educational benchmarks by which educational systems can be judged. In fact, the mission statement given below includes the creation of a global network of educational evaluators.

IEA Mission Statement

Through its comparative research and assessment projects, IEA aims to:

• Provide international benchmarks that may assist policy-makers in identifying the comparative strength and weaknesses of their educational systems

• Provide high-quality data that will increase policy-makers’ understanding of key school- and non-school-based factors that influence teaching and learning

• Provide high-quality data which will serve as a resource for identifying areas of concern and action, and for preparing and evaluating educational reforms

• Develop and improve educational systems’ capacity to engage in national strategies for educational monitoring and improvement

• Contribute to development of the world-wide community of researchers in educational evaluation 84

The worldwide standardization of professional knowledge might be a result of the marketing prowess of Pearson, the global corporation discussed in the last section. Pearson markets its international computer-based tests through its Pearson VUE division. According to the company’s official history in 1994 the Virtual University Enterprises (VUE) was established by three pioneers in the field of electronic tests, including the developer of the first electronic system, E. Clarke Porter. Pearson purchased VUE in 2000. In 2006, Pearson acquired Promissor, a provider of knowledge measurement services, which certifies professionals in a variety of fields. Focusing on the certification of professionals, Pearson VUE serves 162 countries with 4,400 Pearson VUE Testing Centers. “Today,” according to its company description, “Pearson VUE, Pearson’s computer-based testing business unit, serves the Information Technology industry and the professional certification, licensor, and regulatory markets. From operational centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, and China, the business provides a variety of services to the electronic testing market.” 85

The range of computer-based tests offered by Pearson is astonishing and it is beyond the scope of this book to list all the tests. However, Pearson VUE provides the following categories of on-line tests: Academic/admissions; Driving Tests; Employment, Human Resources & Safety; Financial Services, Health, Medicine; Information Technology (IT); Insurance; Legal Services; Real Estate, Appraisers & Inspectors; and State Regulated. 86 On December 17, 2007, Pearson VUE announced that it had signed a contract with the Association for Financial Professions to provide test development to be delivered globally in over 230 Pearson Professional Centers by its Pearson VUE Authorized Test Centers.” 87 On the same date it announced renewal of its contract with Kaplan Test Prep for delivery of the “Ultimate Practice Test” for another Pearson VUE test—the Graduate Management Admission Test.

While Pearson VUE may be aiding the global standardization of professions and government licensing, worldwide language testing is possibly resulting in the standardization of a global English language as contrasted with forms of English associated with particular cultures or nations. As I discuss below, global standardization of English, which in part involves the global reach of the U.S. based Educational Testing Services (ETS), seems to be in the form of a global business English which allows communication across cultures in the world’s workplaces. Focused primarily on work situations it may result in teaching a limited vocabulary. This form of English may, and again I want to stress the word “may,” limit the ability of workers to express in English their discontent and demands for change regarding economic, political and social conditions. The trend to a global business English was reflected on a sign I saw in Shanghai which read “Learn the English words your bosses want to hear!”

Until 2000, ETS primarily focused on the U.S. testing market. In 2000, businessman Kurt Landgraf became president and CEO turning a non-profit organization into one that looks like a for-profit with earnings of more than $800 million a year. As part of Landgraf’s planning, the company expanded into 180 countries. “Our mission is not just a U.S.-oriented mission but a global mission,” Landgraf is quoted in a magazine article. “We can offer educational systems to the world, but to do that, you have to take a lesson from the commercial world [author’s emphasis].” 88 The official corporate description of ETS’s global marketing is:

ETS’s Global Division and its subsidiaries fulfill ETS’s mission in markets around the world. We assist businesses, educational institutions, governments, ministries of education, professional organizations, and test takers by designing, developing and delivering ETS’s standard and customized measurement products and services which include assessments, preparation materials and technical assistance. 89

An important role of the Global Division is standardizing English as a global language. Almost all of its products are for English language learners. The Division markets the widely used Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) and Test of Spoken English (TSE). TOEFL has long served as an assessment tool for determining the English language ability of foreign students seeking admission into U.S. universities. In 2002, ETS opened a Beijing, China office and began marketing TOEIC along with TOEFL. In addition, the Global Division offers TOEFL Practice Online which indirectly serves as a teaching tool for English instruction. In March 2007, ETS proudly announced that the service had been extended to its Chinese market. The Test of English for Distance Education (TEDE) is used worldwide to determine if a student has enough skills in English to participate in on-line courses conducted in English. Criterion is a Web-based Online Writing Evaluation which promises to evaluate student writing skills in seconds. In 2007, ETS’s Criterion won highest honors from the Global Learning Consortium. In addition to all these tests associated with global English, ETS offers ProofWriter an online tool that provides immediate feedback on grammar and editing issues for English language essays. 90

In another major step in the global standardization of English, ETS and G2nd Systems signed an agreement in 2007 for G2nd Systems to join ETS’s Preferred Vendor Network and to use TOEIC. G2nd Systems is promoting an intercultural form of English for use in the global workplace. “G2nd Systems defines the way people use non-culture-specific English in workplace environments as intercultural English, which is not the same as any national version of English that naturally includes cultural presumptions, idioms and local ways of communicating ideas,” explains Lorelei Carobolante, CEO of G2nd Systems in a news release from ETS. “TOEIC test scores indicate how well people can communicate in English with others in today’s globally diverse workplace. G2nd Systems recognizes that measuring proficiency in English speaking and writing capabilities allows business professionals, teams and organizations to implement focused language strategies that will improve organizational effectiveness, customer satisfaction and employee productivity.” 91

A for-profit corporation, G2nd advertises itself as “Global Collaborative Business Environments across multiple cultures at the same time!” and “Global Second language Approach.” The corporate announcement of its affiliation with ETS states: “Today, over 5,000 corporations in more than 60 countries use the TOEIC test, and 4.5 million people take the test every year.” 92 G2nd Systems offers instruction in an intercultural form of English as opposed to the Englishes of particular countries, such as India, Britain or the United States. Referring to “Intercultural English—A New Global Tool,” the company explains, “Intercultural English developed in response to the new dynamics emerging in today’s global business environment, characterized by multiple cultures operating in a collaborative structure to execute projects that are often geographically dispersed.” 93 Highlighting the supposedly culturally neutral form of English taught by the organization it claims: “Intercultural English is a communication tool rather than a national version of any language, and this tool is as vital as mathematics or computer literacy in facilitating normal business processes [author’s emphasis].” 94

In summary, the expansion of international testing might be resulting in global standardization of school subjects, professional knowledge requirements, and English. It would be interesting to analysis the content of the all the various tests offered by Pearson on the standardization of professional knowledge. By using on-line tests Pearson is able to engage in global marketing. It would seem hard to deny that between ETS’s range of English tests, its online services in English composition, and its connection with G2nd Systems that it is having a global impact on how English is spoken and written. Can English as a global language be standardized so that it is not identified with a particular culture or nation?

Shadow Education Industry and Cram Schools

Across the globe from Japan to India to Cape Town to Buenos Aires to the United States, parents worry about their children’s grades and test scores because they are tied to their children’s future economic success. Consequently, they seek out test preparation or cram schools and private learning services to help their children after school hours.

World culture theorists David P. Baker and Gerald K. LeTendre label supplementary education providers as the “shadow education system.” 95 From the perspective of the 21st Century, Baker and LeTendre see a global growth of the shadow education system as pressures mount for students to pass high-stakes tests and the world’s governments attempt to closely link student achievement to future jobs. In their words, “Mass schooling sets the stage for the increasing importance of education as an institution, and to the degree that this process creates greater demand for quality schooling than is supplied, augmentation through shadow education is likely.” 96

Baker and LeTendre predict that shadow education systems will continue to grow as nations embrace human capital forms of schooling. Simply put, as schooling is made more important for a child’s future, families will invest more money in tutoring services for remedial education and for providing for enhanced school achievement.

The U.S.’s shadow education system is tied to government support and therefore leads to lobbying efforts by the Education Industry Association. This organization has adopted a self-protective code of ethics. I call this code of ethics self-protective because it provides an internal policing function designed to protect the industry from criticism by politicians and the media. The Coalition states: “In its role of providing critical leadership to the education industry, both public and private, EIA [Education Industry Association] has adopted this voluntary code to describe key organizational behaviors and policies that will guide its member companies and others.” 97 The actual code focuses on standards involving possible kickbacks to politicians, government officials, and local community leaders along with hiring practices that might create a conflict of interests. The Education Industry Association adopted these compliance procedures:

1. EIA [Education Industry Association] will develop educational materials on these standards for use by providers, States and school district personnel. These materials will be distributed to members and non-members alike for their incorporation into their internal staff development procedures.

2. All EIA members will sign a statement acknowledging their acceptance of these standards. EIA will maintain a list of signers on its website for the public to review.

3. When a State or School District completes an investigation and has a finding that a breach of these guidelines has occurred, EIA may issue its own censure, suspend or terminate the membership status of the Member. Before EIA acts, it will discuss the matter with the party and offer the party the opportunity to present its information to an ad hoc committee of the Board of Directors.

Therefore, the Education Industry Association’s SES Coalition provides not only lobbying to maintain a steady flow of government money to these for-profit organizations but it also attempts to provide a blanket of protection from any possible government or media criticism through its self-policing activities. Signatories to the code of ethic include the major for-profit providers of supplementary services and might be considered the major players in the shadow education system. 98 In addition, the Education Industry Association advertises career opportunities in the education business. The career page of the Education Industry Association promises: “Employment opportunities in the education industry abound. Whether you are just starting out or have substantial executive level professional experience, EIA members may have the position to fit your interests. To help you discover the range of great entry-level or senior level positions for you, the Education Industry Foundation has supported the development and production of the first-ever Career Opportunities in the Education Industry. 99

One economic opportunity that drives the shadow education system is the purchase of a franchise from a major company. Franchising supplementary education services, as I discuss in the next section, increases the base political support for government funding. As the number of franchises increases, so do the number of people interested in ensuring political and government financial support of the for-profit education industry. Therefore, the shadow education system becomes a shadow political system with its on educational interests, which, at times, might be in competition with the public school system for government funding.

Franchising the Shadow Education System

Interested in joining the for-profit shadow education system? Sylvan Learning, offers franchises requiring an initial investment of $179,000-$305,000 to people having a minimum net worth of $250,000. By offering kindergarten through 12th grade tutoring services it is able to take advantage of government funds provided for for-profit educational services. Depending on the location the franchise fee is from $42,000 to $48,000. Why might you choose Sylvan? The company advertises its sale of franchises by pointing out that it has served two million students since 1979, was ranked 24 times in Entrepreneur magazine’s “Franchise 500 Ranking” and was number 61 overall in its 2009 “Franchise 500 Ranking” and number 52 in the publication’s “Top Global Franchises” ranking. It was ranked in Bond’s Top 100 Franchises and number 57 in the 2008 Franchise Times’ “Top 200 Systems.” In addition, the Sylvan Learning franchise brand was selected the best educational provider in Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect’s First Annual Parents’ Picks Award and as “Favorite Kids Learning Center” by SheKnows.com. If you happen to be Hispanic, you might be tempted to invest in a franchise because Sylvan Learning was identified by “PODER Enterprise magazine as one of the “Top 25 Franchises for Hispanics” in April 2009.” 100

Sylvan Learning’s promotion of its franchises highlights the political stake it has in the continued government funding of for-profit supplementary education services. It functions like any corporation trying to expand its reach and profits. Like any corporation it relies on having a global brand name which is impressed on the public through its $40 million advertising and marketing program. In the midst of the 2010 recession the company claimed, “Despite the economy, now is the right time to enter the supplemental education industry. According to Eduventures, Inc., the current demand is strong and the market is projected to continue with double-digit growth.” 101 The company claimed that when in 2008 it decided to focus on “franchising to local entrepreneurs and business operators who can respond to the particular needs of each community while utilizing the tools, resources and brand equity of the Sylvan name” it grew by 150%. 102

Sylvan Learning is also a global company with tutoring services located in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. 103 While this global reach is relatively small it does indicate a potential future for Sylvan Learning as a major global education company.

Kumon Learning Centers has a vast number of global franchises with over 25,000 franchises in other countries. 104 The Kumon Learning centers were founded in Japan in 1958 by Toru Kumon. In 2010 the company was ranked #12 in a list of franchises which included beginning with #1 in the list Subway followed by McDonald’s, 7-Eleven Inc., Hampton Inn, Supercuts, H&R Block, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jani-King, Servpro, ampm Mini Market and Jan-Pro Franchising Int’l Inc. 105 This is a pretty impressive list and indicates the growing global importance of the shadow education industry. In 2009, Kumon Learning Centers enrolled 4.2 million students in 46 countries. 106

Another global example is Kaplan which started as a test preparation company and is now a global company operating for-profit schools along with test preparation and language instruction. Kaplan’s operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are advertised as meeting “students’ demand for Western-style education.” In 10 European countries if offers test preparation and English language instruction. “In the UK,” Kaplan states, “we are one of the largest providers of accountancy training and private higher education. We also operate the Dublin Business School, Ireland’s largest private undergraduate college.” 107 Kaplan operates Tel-Aviv-based Kidum, the largest provider of test preparation in Israel. In Brazil, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela, Kaplan operates English language and test preparation programs designed to prepare students for admission to schools in the United States. 108

In summary, the shadow education system is now an important player in national and global politics. The agenda of these supplementary education services focuses on increasing revenues by lobbying for government financial support and school policies supporting assessment systems that drive students into buying their services. These companies are also seeking to expand revenues through globalization of their products and by expanding into new areas such as for-profit schools and English language instruction.

Conclusion: Long Life and Happiness

Human capital ideology dominates global education discourses. Human capital ideology supports the educational policies that will maximize profits for education businesses. Human capital ideology supports the testing companies and the shadow education industry because of the ideologies emphasis on high-stakes testing to promote and sort students for careers and higher education and for evaluating teachers and school administrators. By schools putting testing pressure on students, parents are willing to fork out extra money to the shadow education industry. Consequently, the shadow education system and multinational testing corporations are interested in public acceptance of human capital ideology and the legitimization of assessment driven school systems.

In A New Paradigm for Global School Systems: Education for a Long and Happy Life, I have offered an alternative to the current global focus on human capital education and consumerism. 109 I am proposing that school policies be evaluated on their contribution to the social conditions that provide the conditions for human happiness and longevity rather than being judged by their contribution to economic growth and income. There is a great deal of international research on the social conditions that promote happiness and a long life. My work represents one effort to try and shift thinking about educational policies.