Quy Nitta Scott Problem Set

Quy Nitta Scott

Problem Set #1-Revised

Rational decision-making (the economist's approach)

Charter schools are hotly debated today because of their inherent controversial nature. With regard to decision making on charter schools, we should consult some important decision making theories as they would be able to help us truly understand how decisions are reached over a controversial subject.

A rational decision on the subject would thus involve carefully examination of all alternatives and then selecting the one that seems most appropriate. The rational decision-making approach to policy-making assumes that all actors involved in a decision are able to weigh the pros and cons of possible alternatives, and advance their interests in a coherent fashion. Rational decision-making assumes that all individuals can perceive their interests and have relatively equal access to information, and relatively little emotional or administrative baggage. Thus, if charter schools will enhance the quality of education and serve underserved communities with enhanced services, parents of the students who believe their children will benefit from such an educational environment will support the measure, as will politicians with parents in such constituencies. Teachers, students, and parents in school districts that might lose funding, if more money is diverted to charter schools will oppose the measure. Advocates of free market capitalism, of course, are particularly enthusiastic about the fact that charter schools operate on business models in a for-profit fashion: the theory is that the best schools will flourish, while the worst will lose students and fold. Of course, critics point out that charter schools can engage in preferential screening, which allows them to 'cherry pick' which students they do and do not select (Chen 2007). Charter schools aim to provide much wider educational opportunities than what the public school system can provide with its rigid budget and standards. Charter schools can open their doors to students of various backgrounds and locations, thus eliminating discrimination against public education in bad neighborhoods. As their means, charter schools utilize public funds in order to operate. They are an exception within the traditional public school system in that they are allowed to choose how those funds are then allocated directly, rather than having the larger public system determines it for them.

Even though rational decision making sounds great, it is just not practical. People do not always have access to similar kind of information and they may not even be aware of all the alternatives available to them.

Bounded rationality or mixed scanning decision making (the administrative theorist's approach)