You've got to love those politicians! If you are a senator or a congressman, you send your kid to a private school because the public schools in the national's capitol are so bad. But what if you have limited means and your child attends a failing public school, do you have the same choice? Not exactly.
Public vs. Private Schools
At the heart of the continuing debate on the voucher issue is a report from The Hoover Institution entitled Gains of Black Students in Voucher Schools. The conclusion reached by the report indicates that black students who start private school in the primary grades do better in standardized tests than those who don't. On the other hand children beginning private school at the middle school level don't do as well. I guess there's more than a little truth in the old saying 'Get 'em while they're young!' Children in Grades 1, 2 or 3 adjust quickly to new and different surroundings. The pre-teen and early adolescent age groups find adjustment much more difficult. Certainly makes sense to me.
All or Nothing
Back to the politics: what upsets me is that politicians would appear to suggest by their stance on vouchers that if all of American children can't benefit from a voucher program, then none of them should. In other words we must not spend tax money on voucher programs, as this is money which could be spent improving our public schools.
Vouchers Stimulate Competition
Competition is a very good thing in any endeavor. Even K-12 education. Can you imagine where we would be today if the Internet had not benefited from public funding at its inception? The Internet is the essence of competition and revolution. That's the approach we need with our public schools. They need competition. Parents should have the opportunity - call it choice, if you must - to send their children to good schools just like the politicians do. And if those parents do not have the resources a politician has, then why not expend a small amount of the public treasury on such a worthwhile cause? The competition will force public schools to change in order to survive. After all, if a school does not improve, it won't attract students.
Education: An Investment In Our Nation's Future
To me, education is a matter of priorities and making tough decisions. Politicians must understand that parents expect education in all its forms to be the first priority of government at every level. Parents must understand that they can and must put pressure on politicians at every level to make the tough decisions necessary to improve our educational system. We must work together creatively and enthusiastically for the benefit of our most valuable national resource: our children.
Page 2...Evidence that vouchers DO indeed work.
Resources
Thomas Friedman: The World Is Flat
