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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

Private prisons have the perverse incentives that private companies will push for policies that incarcerate more people:

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/sep/18/justice-s...

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Do private schools have similar incentives to keep children from passing to extract more fees?

If they are paid per graduating student, are they incentivized to pass (or ignore plagiarism, etc) for under-performing students?

If they are paid based on standardized test results, are they incentivized to teach to the test only?

If they are paid based on average grade score, are they incentivized to expel students for poor academic performance?

(I've seen the last one happen, but I don't think the cause was quite as direct - possibly high average scores => high first year enrolments)

Private schools are normally paid for by the parents, who have the most direct interest in a successful outcome, however they define that.

That's the theory. The practice as I can observe at my state school is that the administration asks "how many students did we graduate this year" when they should be asking "how rigorously were the students taught". It would be in the students' best interest if there was presssure for the faculty to do an acceptable job, but since tuition constitutes a substantial part of the university's operating income the focus is on recruitment and retention, where it really doesn't belong.

There are some Young Turks protesting the status quo amongst the faculty, but none amongst the administration, the students or their parents.

On the other hand, if the university was tax-funded, then the interests of faculty, administration and well-performing students would be aligned. At the moment they are not.

Yes, if the incentives are structured by the employing government as such. Governments shouldn't do that though. Nor should governments entertain the proposals pushed by these firms.

Public prisons have the same problem. Where I live the prison guards donate enough to politicians new prisons are always built in lieu of sentencing reform.

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