In a much smaller country McDonalds and Walmart would not be able to sell products of their quality ... at the prices they do.
If the quality of U.S. textbooks and other educational materials is sub-standard (a view I am sympathetic to), despite the large market, this is a market failure worth examining.
McDonald's sells food all over the world, in countries large and small, and it's all substandard (but in many other countries, McDonald's is actually kind of expensive). And yet they thrive.
Re: Market failure.
Education is not like, say, the auto industry or the clothing industry. With cars or clothes, you can buy second-hand stuff. You can trade clothes with your friends or buy something expensive at Nordstrom. If you don't like that brand of car (quality too low), you can sell it and buy a new one that's better. There are lots of choices, and the market works because of real competition.
With education, the situation is very different. The vast majority of people are stuck with the school the district assigns them. Plus, they have no say in decisions about the curriculum or how it's implemented. They take what's handed to them, just like our kids take what the schools give them, even over our protestations. Students are more of a captive audience. The AP "market" is especially bad because the College Board controls course content.
Ergo, it's really not a free market and rules that work for jeans and sneakers don't work well in public education.
