ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the origins of the economization of education by members of the Chicago School. Historically, human capital and the application of free market economics to public education received their greatest support from the Chicago School. The chapter considers the most extreme example of corporatization of education and family life before explicating the ideas underpinning economization, human capital, free markets, and for-profit schooling. As part of the economization of education, it is assumed that parents weigh cost and benefits of spending money on their children's education and that college age students weigh the cost and benefits before investing in higher education. The early goal of the World Bank to fund education in developing countries is to spur economic growth. From an economization perspective, schools were to function as appendages to the global economic system. Economist Gary Becker analyzed the relationship between education and income and came to the conclusion that personal investment in education resulted in a high rate-of-return.
