LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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Free Market Case Vetoed
From High School Education Debate?

Mr. Coulson:

I am a high school debater. This year the national topic is the improvement of academic achievement in secondary schools in the US.  At debate camp in Kansas, I made a plan based on your book and other writings. The case rules! As you know it does about everything good and nothing bad plus addresses all other arguments! Only one thing, my coach won't let me use it because he thinks it is too far fetched.  Could you put a message on your web page, or something, saying that you support "Jason and Doug's Kansas debate lab"- everyone would really appreciate it.

--Scott

The Editor's Reply

Dear Scott,

Not knowing the specifics of the debate lab to which you refer, I can't offer an endorsement, but I am surprised to hear that your coach has vetoed your right to make your case, whatever his personal feelings about its merits. That would be an ironically autocratic decision for an exercise that is supposed to embody the ideal of open, democratic discourse. In the world beyond high-school, ideas stand or fall on their own merits. No-one sits in judgement to decide which arguments may be heard and which may not.

Perhaps if you respectfully point this out to your coach, he may reconsider. If not, appealing his decision to the appropriate body would seem to present an excellent real-world opportunity to exercise your debating skills.

Also, a note on your comment that my proposal does "everything good and nothing bad." That's overstating the case. A free market educational system coupled with financial assistance for low-income families would certainly be the most effective way of meeting the public's needs, but no system is perfect. Some of the difficulties and complexities are mapped out in the Conclusion to Market Education. It's important not to oversell even the strongest argument or body of evidence.

Thank you for writing and for taking up this topic with such obvious energy and enthusiasm. I trust that you will be permitted to make your case and that its merits will be perceived by those who hear it. 

--Yours sincerely,
        Andrew Coulson

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