| The historical and modern evidence
indicates that free educational markets, in which parents have been
able to choose any school for their children and schools have been forced to compete with
one another to attract students, have consistently done a better job of serving families
and nations than state-run systems such as we have today. The superiority of market school systems has gone beyond immediate benefits
to students, extending to communal effects such as increased
social harmony and protection of minority rights. As a result, School Choices
recommends:
1) Gradually phasing out government
involvement in education, and moving
towards a competitive educational
marketplace.
2) The creation of a subsidy system to
enable low-income families to
participate effectively in that
marketplace. Tax Credits and
private
scholarship programs
would be among
the most promising elements of such a
system. |
The School Choices position is based on of one of the
most comprehensive studies of school governance ever undertaken. Education systems from
all over the world, and from ancient times to the present, have been compared to identify
the common elements of educational success and failure. That four year investigation is
reported in the book Market Education: The Unknown History.
These recommendations are an admittedly significant departure from
our present approach to school governance. We have all grown accustomed to the institution
of public schooling over the years, and it is natural and even proper to be skeptical of
arguments for radical change. But in the end, the institution of public schooling is only
a means of fulfilling our educational goals and ideals, and it should stand or fall based
on how well it satisfies those goals and ideals.
An early summary of Market Education's findings was
presented to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in June of 1997. A transcript of that
oral presentation can be found here. |
