Unequal Benefits: Privatization and Public Education in Canada by Sue Winton

I was intrigued while reading the entirety of Sue Winton’s book Unequal Benefits: Privatization and Public Education in Canada, but I can summarize the point it hammered home for me by jumping directly to its final line: “When a policy is shown to create or reproduce inequity or otherwise threaten the public school ideal, it must be abandoned. Let’s start by abandoning education privatization.”

Winton’s book reads as part research review, part dissertation, and part call to action it deserves a spot on your reading list whether you are well-versed in the perils of privatization or are a newbie to neoliberal nudges in education.

The driving force behind Winton’s work is her belief that we must do all we can to protect and advance both the public school ideal: “…a school that is free and accessible, provides all kids with opportunities to benefit from its offerings, prioritizes public benefits, and is accountable to the public,” and critical democracy: “…a version of democracy where people live together in ways that reflect commitments to equity, inclusion, social justice, diversity, public participation in decision-making, and the public good.”

Winton provides concrete examples to show how seemingly innocuous practices like fundraising, school fees, and recruiting fee-paying international students provides advantage for certain students, and ultimately leads to further segregation and stratification.

The author also goes on to clearly demonstrate how some families look to secure private benefit within the public system and subsequent impacts on that system. Parents paying for private psychological testing, individual course credits, or private tutoring services stand in direct opposition (often unwittingly) to both the public school ideal and the concept of critical democracy. Winton takes aim at current policies and programs like open enrolment, alternative or specialized schools/programs—including French Immersion and International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advance Placement (AP), and e-learning as thinly veiled attacks on a properly functioning public school system.

Winton does believe that stopping privatization is possible and the chapter “Taking Action” on its own makes the book read-worthy. The author suggests direct actions (like asking critical questions and being part of the discourse) and resources (like the website The Conversation, and work done by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) as means to fight privatization.

If your inner social scientist is so inclined the book even reviews research approaches and lays out the steps in conducting policy research.

Now, go grab a copy people. Read it. Act on it. Because as Sue Winton reminds us, “…it is people who privatize, and it is people who can choose to do otherwise.”