James Heckman, a Nobel laureate, says parents of children attending private schools are highly motivated and want to see their kids succeed
Professor James J Heckman is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he also serves as Professor in the University of Chicago’s Law School and Harris School of Public Policy. In 2000, Professor Heckman won the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (Nobel in Economics). In an interview to Forbes India, he speaks on the various aspects of education.
Q. In India we have launched the right to education where we are trying to put children from poor families into good schools run by the private sector. Do you think this kind of approach will work?
Engaging the private sector is always a good idea, but you have to make sure that it is fully responsive to a particular question. From my own experience in the US, I can say that the private sector in early childhood education programmes can help respond to cultural, social and parental religious values that would adapt programmes to be where the children and parents want to be. It can also generate funds and support outside the government. So, not only can it communicate information about diverse groups’ interests, but it can also help finance those programmes and raise support apart from shaping the agenda in a way that is fully responsive to different elements of society.
Q. In India, the poor have shown an increasing preference for paying higher fees and shifting their children to private schools. This is what prompted the government to say that private schools have to take in a huge diverse population from different backgrounds. Is it a good approach when 90 percent of the schools are run by the state?
I don't want to pretend to be an expert on the Indian education (system). But I have seen some of the studies and I don't think if they completely control for the issue of selectivity, which is that children attending private schools have parents who are more motivated. That is a problem that runs throughout the world, not just in India. But it does seem like the private schools are doing a better job, at least superficially, but again, I haven't studied the problem in depth.
Q. You talked about this problem existing across the world...
One thing we have found in American education and education in Chile and other countries is that when the private and public sectors coexist, in many cases, the private sector can help the public sector become more responsive to children. And so they compete. In that sense, competition can promote quality in both public and private sector. John Hicks, the famous economist, talked about the benefits of monopoly. He said the benefit of monopoly was that a monopolist can live a quiet life. The monopolist doesn't have to compete and I think that is probably equally true in education as it is in steel or any other activity.
Q. When you spoke about selectivity, you seem to think that private schools may or may not necessarily be better, but the kind of students that self-select themselves into these schools may be giving them better results. Is that what you are trying to say?
Oh yes. The motivated parents are the ones trying to achieve better results for their children. And we know that parenting is an important part of success of schools. Good parenting can be a very powerful factor leading to the success of the child, and maybe we attribute too much credit to the school attended by the child and probably underestimate the powerful role of the parent and the motivation of the parent.
Q. As an aside, are you aware of Amy Chua's Tiger Mom concept? Do you think it has a huge impact on performances of students coming from certain communities?
Yeah, I think it is. I know she goes to extremes to prove her theory. There is a difference that we sometimes make between an authoritarian mother and an authoritative mother. And I think, Tiger Mom sounds a little too authoritarian. What you want is the mother to be informed and provide guidance to the child… that is an important distinction. If you look at Asian communities in the United States, for example Indian or Chinese communities, a lot of those children come from homes that are very highly motivated.
Q. Can you tell us more about that?
Q. Can you elaborate on that?
(This story appears in the 08 August, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)