How Sweden Profits from For-Profit Schools | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary

How Sweden Profits from For-Profit Schools | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The best teachers attract tens of thousands of students as news of their effectiveness spreads, sometimes becoming national celebrities. One such celebrity teacher is Woo Hyeong-cheol whose math classes attracted 50,000 on-line students last year, earning him $4 million — more than most of the nation's top professional athletes."

"So investors have a powerful incentive to pick only the best for-profit schools, and the for-profit schools have a powerful incentive to grow. My research on California's charter school networks suggests that philanthropists, who expect no financial return on their investment, are less careful in their choices.

To date, the profit motive has proven to be the only reliable way of ensuring that top schools and teachers routinely reach mass audiences, crowding out inferior services. Nations that exclude the profit motive from education have reduced the best schools to floating candles: beautifully illuminating their immediate vicinities, but doomed never to ignite a wider blaze."