# Multimedia 

Multimedia 

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Events • April 16, 2008 

# Markets vs. Standards: Debating the Future of American Education 

A quarter century ago, *A Nation at Risk* shook the country and energized two education reform movements: school choice, and government-driven standards and accountability. For years, proponents of these reforms coexisted, even cooperated, but rifts have begun to appear. “Instructionists” now argue that markets without government standards are doomed to fail, while market reformers assail government standards as futile and anti-competitive. Please join our panelists as they debate the role of these reforms in fixing American education, 25 years after *A Nation at Risk*. 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

##### Sol Stern 

##### Gary Huggins 

[![Media Name: coulson.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/authors/crops/coulson.jpg?itok=fVhqr8Hg)](/people/andrew-coulson) 

##### [Andrew J. Coulson](/people/andrew-coulson)

Former Senior Fellow 

##### John Merrifield 

##### Ben Wildavsky