The one fundamental drive of education since time immemorial is to lift people’s realization to perform to the highest level. It is aimed at transforming an individual to serve and provide significance in society. It is also aimed at improving and contributing to the development of the economy, develops an efficient workforce and position students for career, jobs, and promote the overall political and social system. The purpose, as mentioned above, has enabled and brought forth immeasurable benefits to individuals in society and created unlimited transformation, as witnessed in some of the most developed nations such as the United States, China, Britain, and Russia ( Darko, 2017) . The broader purpose of education goes beyond finding jobs and earning a living. It strives to bring together multiple dimensions to achieve the maximum human experience.
As a way of transforming and changing communities, through technical know-how and values, education entails multiple uses of resources and finances, calling upon the use of large sums of funds. In most countries all over the world, the education docket uses the most substantial chunk of the national budget due to essential priorities placed on research, development, and resources. Darko (2017) argues that nowadays, education institutions are forced to use large sums of funds to prepare students adequately for the market and opportunities in the corporate and research world. However, at times, there should be a limit to the number of resources and funds used in schools and higher learning institutions. It is evident from the vast sums of money students pay an exorbitant budget used by schools that education is over-commercialized nowadays, a trend that continues to undermine school values, mission, and ideas.
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What is the Commercialization of Education?
Commercialization of education entails the promotion and private ownership of learning institutions such as colleges and universities with the single purpose of proprietors making returns ( Zhou & Chao, 2018) . Commercialization requires turning an activity into a business to make profits. It involves marketing, distribution, and production of activities and products for commercial purposes. While it is applicable in various sectors such as charities, sports, and agriculture, the education sector is too sensitive to focusing on profit-making.
According to Darko (2017) the commercialization of education has led to numerous reforms in the sector that has robbed it of its good tidings such as the promotion of humane values. It has also introduced stringent limitations in the education sector with slant financial elements that only benefit private entities ( Misra & Ghadai, 2016) . It has also changed a broad industry of education, mostly the relationship between the teacher and student, a prospect that undermines the strategic approaches of education that strive to promote educational goals and objectives ( Darko, 2017) . Excessive commercialization has brought forth new dimensions in school administrators, parents’ engagement, and student’s involvement in education matters. The latest development has seen a continued rise in education privatization and multiple reforms point to the fact that the education system is excessively commercialized.
Continued Degradation of Education Values
Commercialization has continued to undermine education values, missions, and objectives due to increased focus on profit-making. School administrators undermine the very purpose of school objectives to provide education to students. The primary aim of any education facility, such as a high school, is to foster clear thinking towards social, political, and economic issues. Students are urged and prepared to think critically and are further encouraged to develop mechanisms of holding their own opinion and values to holistic living. However, commercials and the mass media prey on people’s lack of knowledge of critical thinking.
Ball (2017) maintains that the objective of an educational institution and commercials brings forth no good to the well-being of a student, especially towards critical thinking and upholding relevant values essential for the right of development and growth. Darko (2017) maintains that when learning is only seen through the lens of the ability to pay, it no longer serves the common purpose of promoting mental growth. In many ways, it only serves to benefit school administrators and proprietors.
Misra and Ghadai (2016) portends that p rivate institutions are a typical example of the rich playing a critical role in the education system instead of education policymakers having a central role in laying down the foundation of education. Students who cannot meet the requirements of learning in private institutions are left out with the general feeling that they deserve less than what is required in the education system. Parents and students develop the impression that such situations deny them the learning they deserve.
The New Business Venture
When people and politics take over the education sector, there develop the risk of concentration on “the business venture” instead of the promotion of education values and purpose. Even though private schools promote ethical values and missions, the entire arrangement sets in a lopsided example to other students. For example, according to Darko (2017) and Zhou and Chao (2018), the fact that some group of people can introduce their rules and frameworks in schools robs the education sector the ability to promote general goals of education in all fields and institutions. Excessive commercialization would only achieve bring for a generation of persons with unwarranted moral principles. Increased political influence and involvement of non-education policymakers in the education sector is a pointer that the education system is nowadays overly commercialized.
Enterprise Management
Currently, most education institutions, especially colleges and universities, are managed like business prospects and enterprises. Too much focus is placed on cost management, cost-cutting, and striving towards resource mobilization and product assessment. At the same time, the attention has gradually shifted from the learner to new management policies that only aim to improve on student intake and high monetary flow ( Darko, 2017) . A new bond between teachers and students is gradually emerging. Little focus is paid on student learning as a new phase of readjustment and product making taking over teaching and learning in most institutions.
Mushrooming of Private Education Centers
Business prospects attract a large number of investors who want to pursue their business goals to profit-making. According to Misra and Ghadai (2016) t he continued rise and mushrooming of private education centers is proof that anyone with sufficient resources and finances can open up a school facility and start admitting students. The only requirement is the ability to finance such a venture ( Tiwari, 2016) . Most of the proprietors have no or little knowledge on education matters and only venture into the sector due to their perceived notion and understanding that the education sector is a lucrative investment. The trend is especially prevalent in urban centers where financially stable families can afford to take their children. According to Darko (2017) the positioning, location, naming, and strategies used by the mushrooming private enterprises is proof that the primary aim of these institutions is to make a profit and not train and equip students with relevant skills ( Misra & Ghadai, 2016) . It’s not a surprise that the advertisement and marketing of these institutions are no different from how commercial companies such as Apple Co. and Amazon market their brands.
Exorbitant Fees Charged
Private education institutions charge exorbitant fees that do not translate to make sense of the primary objectives of education. According to Tiwari (2016) the primary aims of these excessive fee structures are mainly to make a profit, and profit can only be attained by ensuring that students pay a high premium amount that, in many ways, does not align with established guidelines of education standards. The high fees charged are only a pointer to the fact that education is gradually becoming a reserve for the rich and wealthy ( Armstrong, 2016) . The situation is no different from the commercial market differentiation in which consumers only buy what they can afford, and the market structure is stratified following one’s financial ability ( Darko, 2017) . From the original ideas and objectives of education standards, this was never the aim of education, creating inequality and imbalance in the education sector. The trend is only a sign of excessive commercialization of the education sector.
Little Government Input
With the continued rise of new management and strategic policies that focus on profit realization, the federal and state governments are gradually losing touch with schools. The situation is evident with the limited resources currently being allocated to the education sector in addition to poor management of public education institutions. Most federal education facilities not only lack adequate personnel but are also underfunded ( Misra & Ghadai, 2016) . Most of the institutions have no basic requirements, such as research resources, books, and learning materials such as computers. Tiwari (2016) argues that investors, private entities, and business persons have, in the recent past, identified this as an opportunity to establish modern education facilities, further harming public education institutions. With continued neglect of public institutions, private education centers are gradually taking up centers as excellent and fitting education facilities, a feat that promotes the commercialization of education.
However, Holloway and Keddie (2019) argue that various pointers show that education is not too commercialized and that there are still multiple opportunities to commercialize the sector. Firstly, if at all there could be excessive commercialization, the many degrees available in the market, could have been up for business sales. There is evidence in both private and public education institutions that students are still striving and working hard to attain and get their degrees. Students are putting great efforts into achieving their degrees and graduate, a pointer that education is not yet overly commercialized. According to Holloway and Keddie (2019) the availability of student loans and ease of accessing federal funding by public education facilities is evident that there is still money available, and education is not excessively commercialized.
Just because there are a large number of private institutions are not a pointer that education is commercialized. Even if the sector was overly commercialized, there could still be multiple opportunities for putting up private entities for those who can afford it. Students are also keen on quality education and can easily switch from one institution to another in search of a significant educational institution ( Holloway & Keddie , 2019). If it were all that commercialized, students could not have been keen on such prospects that may only waste their money. It is not enough to say that education is commercialized simply because of a few pointers within the education system. There is still room for more commercialization and learning within the appropriate standing.
Conclusion
Education standards are currently undermined, and greater focus is paid on modern management strategies to improve on profit maximization. Nowadays, the education system is overly commercialized, with little emphasis on the true meaning of education certificates. From advertising to the strategic location of private institutions, it is evident that education is excessively commercialized. State and federal governments are also gradually abandoning public institutions leading to low enrolment and inadequate staffing in the schools. One is only able to get quality education if they enroll in private institutions meaning that many continue to ignore public learning institutions that do not serve their purpose of high-quality education standards. With many investors with little knowledge of education policies taking over, the education sector is gradually changing from its initial standing as a center of excellence to a commercial enterprise for profit-making.
References
Armstrong, L. (2016). Barriers to innovation and change in higher education. TIAA-CREF Institute .
Ball, S. J. (2017). The education debate . Policy Press.
Darko, I. N. (2017). Concealed Market and the Commercialization of Education and its Implication for Inclusivity. In Inclusive Education in African Contexts (pp. 129-137). Brill Sense.
Holloway, J., & Keddie, A. (2019). ‘Make money, get money’: how two autonomous schools have commercialised their services. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education , 40 (6), 889-901.
Misra, S. N., & Ghadai, S. K. (2016). Quality education for all: a critique of draft education policy. ACADEMICIA: An International Multidisciplinary Research Journal , 6 (10), 46-52.
Tiwari, A. K. (2016). Integrating value education in teacher education curriculum in the context of India. International Journal of Transformation in English & Education [ISSN: 2581-3951 (online)] , 1 (2).
Zhou, J., & Chao, Q. (2018, August). Analysis of the Alienation of Education from the Perspective of New Era. In 2018 2nd International Conference on Education Science and Economic Management (ICESEM 2018) . Atlantis Press.
