School Choice: Can It Fix Our Broken Schools?
So why is the American Educational system seem to be falling behind?
Is it a lack of money?
Teacher’s unions?
How about a lack of discipline (educational and behavioral?)
We can debate all of these issues, and I’d say you could probably make a case for all of the above and more.
But What’s the answer?
Conservatives in particular have been pushing the notion of vouchers and “tax credits” that could be used to help (if not totally pay) tuition at either another public school of a parent’s choice, or a private school, for years now.
Basically, every child (their parent’s rather) would receive a voucher (we’ll use that term from now on) that they could use to pay for the school of their choice. If the public school in the child’s area wasn’t very good, the parent could send their child to another, better school. Or use the voucher as partial (or total, depending on the school) payment of private school tuition.
Opponents feel that it will handicap the public school system. They say that only the bad students will stay in a public school. Maybe those students have parents who do not care about their children’s education.
Vouchers would benefit mostly poor neighborhoods where the public school systems are not on the same level as others. Conservatives rarely get credit for this compassionate idea.
Cleveland has had a celebrated voucher system for years
Utah passed the bill allowing vouchers in February of 2007.
Are vouchers, or tax credits the answer to our education crisis? Let me know what you think.
Opinon Journal commentary on vouchers
Yes. Hopefully, they will not harm the public schools further, but put them out of their misery, so everyone can have the education they choose.
“Separation of School and State” is needed as badly as “Separation of Church and State”, and for the same reasons. It means nothing for the people to tell the government what to do, if the government taught the people what to think.
And there is a group besides Conservatives which favors School Choice: Libertarians, AKA Classic Liberals. Milton Friedman spent much of the last years of his life on this vital project.