John Whitehead on Improving Public Schools

If you are lucky, you know of entrepreneurial public schools whose leaders are pulling out all the stops to advance education. You can find a wealth of perspectives and resources intended to support these beacons at Assisting Entrepreneurial Schools. One video on the site, featuring former Goldman Sachs co-chairman and noted philanthropist John Whitehead, points to the potential of enlisting corporations which would compete to promote the greatest gains:

And, I love the idea of Goldman Sachs having one school, Morgan Stanley having another school, and Merrill Lynch having a third school, and the three firms competing to who has the best school. And I believe that they can make a big contribution and will have the challenge of competitiveness, and an annual evaluation system, to indicate what improvement has taken place concerning the results of the education of the students in that year.

While I'm sure many will point to the devil in the details, I love the idea. What do you think?

Susan Herr