School-choice works

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

July 28, 2005, 8:03 a.m.
Mr. Smith, Call on Me
I can tell you: School-choice works.

By Greg Forster The biggest difficulty for defenders of the government’s school monopoly is the overwhelming consensus in the empirical research finding that school choice works. They deal with this little problem primarily by ignoring the evidence and changing the subject, but it also helps that they have a stable of professors ready to distort, confuse, and obfuscate the research.


The rest of this story found here: Greg Forster on School Choice on National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/forster200507280803.asp)

[star2589]

school choice definatly works, I agree. I went to a magnet highschool, and it was a great school. charter and maget schools are really beginning to catch on in oregon. I hope that trend continues in oregon, and in the rest of the country.

I have reservations about school vouchers though, mostly for economic reasons.

when the vouchers are a small percentage of the total tuition cost, they only really help the middle class who are on the edge of whether or not they can afford private school. they dont help the poor.

when they cover the total tuition cost, just by simple market forces, the cost will skyrocket, either forcing the government to pay more and more to keep up, or again leaving the poor unable to pay.

so in the end, vouchers do very little to help parents afford private school, or result in never ending increasing taxes.

the other reservation I have, is that private schools dont have to admit every student that applies. I think that if the government is going to help pay tuition, than the schools need to admit all students that apply. if too many students apply, than a random lottery should be used.

[star2589]

school choice definatly works, I agree. I went to a magnet highschool, and it was a great school. charter and maget schools are really beginning to catch on in oregon. I hope that trend continues in oregon, and in the rest of the country.

I have reservations about school vouchers though, mostly for economic reasons.

when the vouchers are a small percentage of the total tuition cost, they only really help the middle class who are on the edge of whether or not they can afford private school. they dont help the poor.

when they cover the total tuition cost, just by simple market forces, the cost will skyrocket, either forcing the government to pay more and more to keep up, or again leaving the poor unable to pay.

so in the end, vouchers do very little to help parents afford private school, or result in never ending increasing taxes.

the other reservation I have, is that private schools dont have to admit every student that applies. I think that if the government is going to help pay tuition, than the schools need to admit all students that apply. if too many students apply, than a random lottery should be used.

oh, and I forgot to mention that by helping to fund private schools, the government gets control over them. thats another huge problem.

[Longhorn_Platinum]

:unsmile: Is there any reason you posted your own remarks twice?

[Lazarus]

...when the vouchers are a small percentage of the total tuition cost, they only really help the middle class who are on the edge of whether or not they can afford private school. they dont help the poor...Explain why its unfair to the poor for the Middle Class to get a good education... By your logic we should make private schools illegal and force all Upper income families to use the same public schools that the Middle and Lower income homes are forced to... You forget, these vouchers are for all American families to utilize their tax dollars in a more effective way than to have them squandered in the that total failure we call the public school system...

I also dont see the logic in assuming that Lower Income families cannot utilize their school vouchers for a better education just as the Middle Class... Ever heard of Home Schooling? There is no reason why we should think that we must turn our children over to strangers to educate them...

...when they cover the total tuition cost, just by simple market forces, the cost will skyrocket, either forcing the government to pay more and more to keep up, or again leaving the poor unable to pay...Now that sounds like New Age Lefty Economics... Why on earth would Market forces cause the cost of tuition to skyrocket? Natural economic forces of suply and demand generate an environment of competition, and thus lower costs...

so in the end, vouchers do very little to help parents afford private school, or result in never ending increasing taxes...You keep desperately holding on to this false concept that education is the responsibility of the Federal government... Has the failures of Public school taught you nothing... The Feds need to get OUT of the education business... Education is one of those disciplines in life that have more place in the hands of Bureaucrats... Correct me if Im wrong but we didnt even have a Federal Department of Education until Jimmy Carter put his fingerprints all over the Federal government...

...the other reservation I have, is that private schools dont have to admit every student that applies. I think that if the government is going to help pay tuition, than the schools need to admit all students that apply. if too many students apply, than a random lottery should be used.You dont understand, do you... The Federal government doesnt generate one single dime of revenue... The Government doesnt PAY for ANYTHING... You pay for it and I pay for it... Its NOT THEIR money... Its OUR money...

ANd Private Schools are private businesses... They have the right to refuse services to anyone they choose to...