The Morality of Free Markets with Michael Sandel

The title and content of this post has been inspired from a book by Michael Sandel, whom I got a chance to meet at the Jaipur Literature Festival this year. For one thing, Professor Sandel is amazing entertainer. He enthralls you with his extremely simple yet profound analogies. And then he makes you stress your grey muscles, makes you think along lines you’d never have imagined and walk those dark corridors of your inner self that you’ve rarely treaded before.

The moment I got to know Professor Sandel was coming for the Jaipur Literature Festival, the urge that lay within me to go to this incredibly amazing event heighted to new levels. The first time I heard about him was when Roshan, a senior and friend, suggested me the ‘Justice with Harvard’ series. It is an introductory compulsory course in philosophy for every undergraduate at Harvard.

 http://www.justiceharvard.org/

The essence of his talk, like always, was a seemingly simple dichotomy: “You are the Principal of a school where the performance of children is deteriorating by the day. The main reason seems to be that the children are not inspired to read enough books. Someone comes up to you with an excellent idea. Pay $2 to a child for every book he/she reads. How many of you would do it? Why?”

Unlike the minority of hands that went up in the air, I was against this solution. For one, by paying children to read the books, you’re destroying the essence of learning. Learning is not only Science, Commerce or Economics. Learning is experience, learning is knowledge that you get by constant voluntary exposure to things that you like. And it is that inherent thirst that drives you to put that education into practical use, to create, to innovate and to find yourself farther than you were yesterday - pushing limits and creating new boundaries. The concept of education cannot be limited to paper. It is in the world around us. I believe that somebody who can dance well is every bit as well educated as one who can solve algebra. It’s just that perspectives are different and extremely sad that the latter is valued much more than the former.

Even if, for the purpose of this argument, we were to assume that education and learning can be confined to reading more and more books, I find the solution majorly flawed in several aspects. For one, what happens to the children’s reading habits when the money stops? How far can you educate them by bribing them to study? How will one ensure the integrity and quality of the education being imparted now that education is no more that actual goal but just the means to the goal – money. To substantiate what I was thinking, Professor Sandel actually told us that one of the effects of this experiment, where it was implemented, was that it resulted in children reading thinner books. The questions are numerous once one starts pondering over them.

However, the counter-arguments posed by those who thought otherwise were, if not entirely convincing, quite impressive. One said that. “By rewarding those who come first in class with monetary incentives, we are giving them more resources so that they can make use of them to advance even further. It’s just a better way of re-distributing resources from the less deserving to the more deserving.” Another argument posed was that the ends justify the means, i.e. , even though it is not the right way to go about it but the forcing children to read more through monetary incentives may arouse their interest in certain fields and may thus help in their education. I could relate well to this argument I have seen this happening to my peers. Forced to read books to crack the Verbal Ability section for CAT, some of them actually liked the practice becoming avid readers.

However, I still feel that, firstly, we interpret the meaning of the word ‘education’ in a much narrower manner than we ought to. Secondly, there is only so much money and free markets can do for you. Education is like evolution. It’s a process that takes place gradually. The path travelled is as important as the milestones crossed. There are certain things money can’t buy, and its better we realize that and take appropriate measure than bargaining for the wrong kind of deals.

Meeting Professor Sandel in person was certainly one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. I even bought his new book – What Money Can’t Buy and got it personally signed from him.