Clean sweep: The cost of outsourcing in public schools

It is supposed to be test of character. An A+ student sits down to the final exam of his degree, and is surprised to be presented with a piece of paper with a single question: what is the name of the person who cleans this building? Walter W Bettinger II, CEO of the finance giant the Charles Schwab Corporation, told a version of this story to 'The New York' Times last year, describing the test as 'the only one I ever failed' and 'a great reminder of what really matters in life'. I recently tried it out on my eight-year-old, a NSW public school student, and she flunked too. This result is less to do with her moral qualities though, I suspect, than her state of residence. For NSW, it turns out, is one of the harder states for a kid to pass the 'what's the cleaner's name?' test.