One of America's super-duper examples of how the free market can unlock innovation and advance education is back in the news. With strippers.
Fast Train College has been out of the news since the feds raided it in 2012. Fast Train had unlocked the innovation of the free market with such great innovations primarily related to Applying for Free Federal money, with such competitive approaches as Faking High School Diplomas. They also embraced another principle of the Free Market (American Style) in which one makes sure that a legislator or two has your back. In their case it was apparently Alice Hastings, who has been a staunch supporter of For Profit schools, including working to defend them back in the early teens against Obama's initiative to shut down predatory for-profit schools (bet she's feeling silly now that the administration has demonstrated that "shut down predatory for profit colleges" actually means "protect profits of predatory for-profit operators")
Fast Train is now the subject of a federal suit (it must have taken two years just to shovel through the mountains of misbehavior). Amongst the many lies that Fast Train College used to grab some of that sweet, sweet federal cash (like lying about whether or not students actually attended classes), we find the money detail-- they hired strippers and exotic dancers as admissions officers.
The college unlocked the forces of free market innovation by sending strippers out for high school visitations, recruiting young men whose interest in the beauty of round, firm education drove them to sign up as federal education money procurement tools for the edupreneurial wizards looking to make a quick buck by pursuing educational excellence.
Had this not involved crushing set and failed educational dreams for thousands of students, this would be a fairly hilarious story (confession-- I picked the story up from Seattle morning drive time DJ's). As it is, it's one more reminder that when you turn free market forces in education, you do not drive excellence in education. Market forces do not foster excellent products; market forces foster excellent marketing.-- and if your target demographic is 18-year-old males, strippers make a certain kind of marketing sense.
P.S. Fast Train College was based in Florida. Surprise.
"Fast Taint had unlocked the innovation of the free market with such great innovations primarily related to Applying for Free Federal money, with such competitive approaches as Faking High School Diplomas."
ReplyDeleteFast Taint isn't a typo, right? Also, is it April 1st?
Yeah, that was a typo. I get the beauty of it, but it's a little too rude even for me.
Delete