Is education giant Pearson stealing our schools?

From Scathing Purple Musings

by Bob Sykes

Publishing company, turned education giant Pearson has been in the news of late. Not all of it good. Unless that is you are an investor. Here’s a June post from Interactive Investor:

You don’t have to be high-tech to capitalise on Pearson’s (PSON) technology triumph as education is moved into the 21st century. The media group is poised to corner the market on electronic books and for investors this means the chance to ride the scientific wave with it.

Electronic books, or e-books, are portable devices that can be used to download and read digital books. They are now growing in popularity and global demand is now on a serious footing.

On Tuesday, for example, the Washington Post talked about how electronic books are making their way into the US education market. According to the article, electronic textbooks represent less than 10% of the textbook market for elementary and secondary schools in the US, but the share is growing fast. A new Florida law will require schools to spend half of their textbook budgets on digital resources by 2015.

So word on the street is that Pearson is using Florida as a model. Small wonder it donates to Jeb Bush’s foundation. It helps pay for all that travel he does all over the country touting the Florida way as the way to go in education policy. I wonder if the governor rides coach.

http://bobsidlethoughtsandmusings.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/what-wall-street-is-saying-about-education-collossus-pearson/