Extract
The School-Choice Choices.
In the United States today, most high school graduates are not ready for the challenges of the modern world or higher education. Their subpar skills pose a major threat to the vitality of our economy. In 1983, a presidential commission on education found the nation "at risk." In 1992, Congress declared that "the current achievement levels of students in the United States are far below those that might indicate competency in challenging subject matters in core content areas" (Goals 2000: Educate America Act, 112). In March 1996, the Second National Education Summit emphatically made that point again. Recent polls indicate that, according to Americans, elementary and secondary education is the most important political issue (1998, 30, citing the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University Survey).
Many people attribute the poor educational outcomes to the political prescription of education practices and the absence of market forces that results from the exclusive access of public schools to tax dollars. "Politics permeates the educational system" (Wong 1996), determining the curriculum, textbooks, teaching credentials, instructional practices (sometimes prescribed in considerable detail), and attendance zones. Most children must attend a particular public school. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 80 percent of children in kindergarten through high school (K-12) attend their assigned public school. Yet so-called public schools are less public than other government-funded services such as hospitals, roads, parks, libraries, parking lots, even golf courses and marinas that are open to anyone willing to pay user fees (Center 1970, Gatto 1992). Many analysts and officials have argued for more parental choice (for example, Chubb and Moe 1990, Coons and Sugarman 1991, Center 1970, Lieberman 1993, Walberg and Bast 1993, and West 1994). Others have argued against it (for example, Texas 1994, Smith and Meier 1995, and Henig 1994). But only two of the choice options have received extensive consideration: public-school choice, which provides for open enrollment among public schools, and private-school choice, under which taxpayers help parents pay private-school tuition (Beare and Boyd 1993, Bierlein 1993, Boaz 1991, Clune and Witte 1990, Cobb 1992, Center 1970, Texas 1994, Henig 1994, Wells and Biegel 1993, Witte and Rigdon 1993). A number of studies exemplify the narrow focus of the school-choice controversy. The Center for the Study of Public Policy noted that a ...See the full content of this document
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