Do not think about, write about or deal with human behavior without determining the effects of incentives.
“I get my money the old-fashioned way. I have people who take it from others and give it to me.” Government employee.
This is a review of:
Zwaagstra, M.C., Clifton, R.A. & Long, J.C. (2010). What’s wrong with our schools and how we can fix them. New York: Rowan and Littlefield Education.
The authors are to be commended for a thorough analysis of some of the main assumptions of mainstream, North American education. They give examples and analysis of discipline, inclusion, constructivism, practice, direct instruction, unions, edu-babble and more of the usual suspects in rendering education the laughingstock it is.
Although the last chapter has a bow to incentives, they do not pursue this topic with any deep analysis. Incentives, of course, are the linchpin of all human activity. They use such terms as urge, request, recommend, explain and etc. to chart a course of action. The only useful words are require, demand, ensure, and etc., words which mean that the person requiring, demanding and ensuring has the levers to ensure that the required demands get done. In sum, the “What’s wrong” part of the title is well done, but the “how we can fix them” misses by a wide margin.
If government workers can get away with nonsense one may be assured that most of them will. A large body of rationalization will support this, but is nothing more than window-dressing. Economic incentives would put this Marx-like theorizing to bed, to rest and to death. You can’t change the world by describing it differently.
Cheerio and ttfn,
Grant Coulson
Cui Bono–Cherchez les Contingencies
