School Vouchers Education Choices Essay Example For Students

School Vouchers: Education Choices Essay School Vouchers:Education ChoicesMulticultural Vocational Education for a Pluralistic SocietyEDS 114, Summer 2000S. CarinciAugust 18, 2000School Vouchers:Education ChoicesThe concept of educational vouchers was brought to public attention several decades ago with Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who promoted it as a technique to improve the educational system (US News and World Report, 1998, p.25). The voucher plan, although differing across the country, generally intends to improve the schooling opportunities available to the minorities and the poor by increasing their ability to enter private schools while simultaneously encouraging the building of new schools outside the current bureaucratic structure. Currently, public schools are supported by a combination of taxes collected by state and local governments. The voucher plan turns this system upside down by continuing to collect the taxes, but then immediately distributing them completely to parents to decide which school should be funded. It creates a controlled market in which schools compete for students and students enroll in schools that best accommodate their needs. The vouchers would more or less be equal to the current expense level per pupil in public schools. Generally school vouchers are supported by Republicans and opposed by Democrats. Needless to say, the voucher has become a significant source of debate. The Republican Party and other advocates of the plan argue that vouchers free disadvantaged students from flunking public schools and that they also spur public schools to improve by creating competition for students. In the June of 1998, a poll conducted by the Organization and Phi Delta Kappa, a professional education association, showed that 51% of Americans favor vouchers while only 45% oppose them (Majority, 1998,p.857), It is public schools moral culture and not merely a concern with academic quality that underlies the controversy over subsidization of nonpublic schools. If public schools became first-rate academically, there would still be a demand for private schools(Hanus, 1997, p.30). Supporters declare that as long as the tuition voucher belongs to the parent, it is no business of the state to which schools the voucher goes. Comparing the vouchers to food stamps, which do not require regulations on grocery stores, they argue that the school vouchers would not carry with them the regulations which have made public schools less effective. The Democratic Party and opposers of the plan challenge that vouchers siphon resources from the public school system, The deregulation of the public school system through the widespread use of school vouchers would lead to an elementary and secondary school system that is fragmented, inefficient, and inherently unequal( Hanus, 1997, p.30). They argue the fact that since there are roughly 4.9 million students in nonpublic schools and since the average cost for each of these students is around $5,500, the total co st of the voucher money would be in the vicinity of $26.95 billion per year. In addition to this, the opponents of the plan contend that the average transportation costs would increase by approximately $1.5 million (Doerr, 1995). Antagonists of vouchers also point to a study conducted by Money magazine. The results of this research concluded that, Students who attend the best public schools outperform most private school students. The best public schools offer a more challenging curriculum than most private schools. Public school class sizes are no larger than in most private school (Doerr, 1995). Vouchers have been approved in the cities of Milwaukee and Cleveland, and in the state of Florida. In Milwaukee, the children that participated in this voucher program had to have been from relatively impoverished families, and only non-religous schools could participate. The money, which was roughly $2,500 per student annually, went directly to the participating schools. In the fall of 1998, 6,200 students attended 57 religious schools and 30 secular private schools with the aid of these vouchers(US News and World Report, 1998, p.25). In Cleveland, the study commissioned by the Ohio Department of Education measured the performance of a sample of third graders over eight months. The results found that voucher recipients in private schools havent done any better academically than their public-school counterparts. Despite the intensity of this debate, there is no conclusive evidence on the academic impact of school vouchers. Life on the frontier EssayThe controversy of school vouchers is a matter that can be attacked in many various ways. However, the American people need to look at the incentives that can be provided in the future rather than the setbacks. No educational systems are flawless, and in order to improve in one way, something else must suffer. The American educational system is already behind many others and cant wait much longer before falling out of the race. Already 20 foreign nations have subsidized religious education for many years and have not experienced the negative effects anticipated by some. What happens to the American educational system will be decided by the American people. The wait has been too long already and should not be postponed any longer. It is time to make a decision. It is time for school vouchers. Works Cited/BibliographyCarnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. School Choice. Princeton: The Carnegie Foundation, 1992. Doerr, Edd. The Empty Promise of School Vouchers. USA Today (Magazine). March 1997: 88-90. Doerr, Edd; Albert Menendez, and John Swomley. The Case Against School Vouchers. Hanus, Jerome. School Vouchers, Pro and Con. Current. Jan 1997: 30-31. Majority of Americans Favor School Vouchers. The Christian Century. 23 Sept 1998: 857. Public Education: A Monopoly No Longer. US News and World Report. 25 June 1998: 25. Rouse, Cecilia. Private School Vouchers and Student Achievement. Quarterly Journal of Economics. v113 (1998) 553-603. Noll, James Wm. Taking Sides, Dushkin Mcgraw Hill, 1999Shapiro, Walter. Pick a School, Any School. Time. 3 Sept 1990: 70-71. Skillen, James W., The School-Choice Controversy. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993. Words/ Pages : 1,601 / 24