James Tooley, 2001
British education expert James Tooley, who is based at the University of Newcastle and London's Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), is an industrious and inventive scholar with a special interest in private education in the Third World. First published in 1999, this 190-page book has been reissued with a thoughtful, new 16-page preface. In it, Tooley seeks to correct some misleading comments and impressions in the main text and to update his information on a few key points. He is particularly interesting on the topic of low-cost, low-overhead private schools serving very poor children in the slums of India and the emergence of private-school options - and privatization of some government schools - in China. Since I believe few American education watchers (or school-choice watchers) are up to speed on such developments - attention having been paid to choice issues in OECD-type countries but not in developing nations - there is much to be learned from Tooley's pioneering work. Surf to http://www.iea.org.uk/books/hp141.htm, where you can download the book in PDF form or order a hard copy. And if the topic interests you, you may also want to have a look at Professor Tooley's Reclaiming Education, also available via the Institute of Economic Affairs. (Start at http://www.iea.org.uk/books/tooley.htm).
