I came across another zinger from Peter Greene. His article discusses how private equity firms buy companies to make quick profits, often by cutting costs in ways that hurt consumers and employees. It gives examples of how this business model has harmed nursing homes, prisons, and colleges when private equity takes them over. In education, private equity firms are increasingly buying companies that make textbooks, tests, software, and provide services like staffing. This lets them control the materials kids learn from and collect lots of data about them. Private equity's focus on short-term profits instead of quality services could badly hurt schools and students. The article argues schools are too important to be treated just as opportunities for investors to make money.
There are a few potential concerns with private equity firms collecting large amounts of data on students:
Privacy - There are questions about how securely all this sensitive data on minors would be stored and protected from breaches or misuse. Students have a right to keep personal information private.
Motivation - These firms are driven by profit rather than students' best interests. The massive data collection seems more aimed at monetization than improving education.
Manipulation - With so much personal data, these companies could use profiling to target and influence students in ways that benefit the companies' bottom lines rather than the students.
Inequity - Heavy data collection tends to disadvantage vulnerable and marginalized students. More affluent families have resources to opt out or shield their kids' data.
Lack of oversight - There may be too little transparency, regulation, and accountability around private companies amassing data on students compared to public schools.
Overall, the risks seem to outweigh benefits of private equity firms gathering huge amounts of student data, especially given their focus on short-term profits over ethical considerations. Student privacy, welfare and equity should be priorities, not opportunities for commercial exploitation.
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Appalling