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Education Reform: School Choice and Vouchers
Table of Contents
SCHOOL VOUCHERS 3
IMPLEMENTING SCHOOL VOUCHERS 4
VOUCHER PROPONENTS 6
SOCIAL STATURE 7
DEVIATE PUBLIC FUNDING 8
VOUCHERS UNDERMINE OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 9
LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND 10
WORKS CITED 16
Picture a Grandpa sitting on his couch watching T. ... He is a prime picturesque of the era where education, poverty and values were of little or no importance to society. ... He managed to graduate high school and can read at the level of a first grader. He can write his name and some words, but did not move on to college to further his education. ...
School Vouchers
Today we live in a society where most Americans believe that our system of education should be a top priority at the local; state and Federal levels, many legislators and parent groups are attempting to implement innovative ideas to rescue students from failing school systems. This ideal program is seen as a savior to many of our fallen public schools, which would distribute monetary vouchers that are typically valued from $2,500 to $5,000 that is then given to parents of school-age children. Parents are now encouraged to use these vouchers towards the cost of tuition at another public or charter school district. But when does a parent’s choice actual guarantee that their child will receive the best education they could possibly want? Indeed, on a superficial level, school vouchers may seem like a relatively benign way to increase the options poor parents have for educating their children. Although many of our educators and community organizations advocate school vouchers as a solid foundation to a new future, its disadvantages highly outweigh any of its positive factors.
Implementing School Vouchers
Implementing school vouchers sends a strong and clear message to our nation: that we as citizens are giving up on public education. I feel that school vouchers are irrelevant to our country and do not provide a safe haven for our children’s future and for those generations yet to come. Vouchers can be seen as a bandage used to cover our educational system’s troubled schools and a form of cheap grace to poor and underprivileged students attempting to acquaint them with the highest education possible. How can society truly demean them to conclude that school vouchers are a solution to our impoverished school districts? Instead of placing valuable time and vigor inserting our nation’s children into charter schools and other excelling public systems, parents must realize that vouchers do not provide any key element on resolving the true problem. Jack Jennings, director of the Washington-based Center for Education Policy, which opposes school vouchers, states “the bottom line is, let’s get on to real school reform and to things that we know for sure help children achieve better: all-day kindergarten for low-income children, better teachers for schools in poverty and smaller classes.” Truly the best way to assist all low-performing students is by strengthening their public school and addressing individual learning problems directly rather than simply moving the child and insisting that they must adjust to another district. I feel in order to fix the deep inequities that may reside in a public school; we must first learn to understand their particular dysfunction instead of simply running from the problems within our school system. Margretta Carrington, the principal of a Tampa, Florida elementary school who witnesses every day the milestones made by individual students explains: “If Florida leaders spent as much time and energy on helping public school students achieve as they spend on developing voucher programs, there may not be such a perceived need for alternatives to the public schools.
Approximate Word count = 2808
Approximate Pages = 11.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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