Despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the anal-retentive control freak set, not only has the Supreme Court recently demolished the notion that school choice is unconstitutional (hooray for poor kids!), but now the famously left-leaning Brookings Institute admits that school choice substantially improves student performance without damaging public schools--indeed, it only improves them. The only place where vouchers don't seem to make much difference is where charter schools already force the public schools to compete. (Big shock, huh?)
This fabulous study is only one of a number to show that freedom of choice works wonders for kids trapped in crappy schools. Just as important, despite all the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) spread by the wealthy power elite, not one single study has ever shown that free choice hurts public schools. So this isn't all that new.
However, this particular study is wonderful because its sponsor, the Brookings Institute, is the darling of the upper-middle-class elitists and limousine liberal set that make up today's reactionary class. Now even their own think tanks have to admit that freedom of choice seems like it could, might, maybe be a good idea.
Not that they'll stop spreading FUD of course--after all, these are the same people who keep saying that tax cuts in the '80s caused massive deficits. But those of us who know better now have a little more ammunition. I'm looking forward to working to defeat reactionaries like Jim Blanchard here in Michigan come November. (Private schools for wealthy liberal elites, educational squalor for the working poor, right Jimmy Boy?)
Maybe we'll lose, but in the long run, I believe the truth will win out.
You win.
Vouchers are in. Crack open the champagne.
After all, you've earned it. You worked long and hard for this day. It was a lonely, uphill battle against the Dark Side.
OK, so that last part was a bit of an exaggeration....
Actually, I'm not interested in revisiting the merits of the case. All of that is a look backward in time; let's look forward now and see if there might not be a set of unintended consequences about to occur here.
For example....
Jonathan Rauch wrote an interesting article in the National Journal about 18 months ago, right after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the Cleveland voucher case.
Rauch's words are worth re-visiting:
In almost every sphere of life, liberals have championed the notion that competition is good for consumers. Education can't hold out against this notion forever.
That's the part that got me thinking. He goes on:My guess is that not long after vouchers established themselves, they would be as controversial among liberals as food stamps, student aid, and housing vouchers are today.
Hee hee! But wait, there's more:My further guess is that, after a shakedown [sic], public schools would compete vigorously and successfully with private schools, just as public universities do. Tomorrow's liberals would wonder what today's liberals were so worked up about.
Stranger things have happened. Slate's William Saletan makes pretty much the same point here.But let's not get distracted. Rauch was on a roll:
If you happen to be a New Democrat, say, or some other variety of government-friendly pragmatist, vouchers are a great idea.
Increased competition in the education sector as a whole will delight you, and the increased regulation of private schools won't bother you much.
The Right's unalloyed enthusiasm for vouchers is a bit harder to justify. Conservatives want to get the state out of public education; they may succeed at getting the state into private education.
Twenty years from now, they may be slapping their foreheads and saying, "What were we thinking when we crusaded to hook private schools on public money?"
And the teachers unions, which by then may have extended many of today's anticompetitive public school rules to the private realm, may be saying, "Boy, were we ever lucky we lost that fight. Now all schools are public."Is this so far-fetched?
Somewhere out there is a New Democrat itching to run for President. This (so far hypothetical) candidate understands how to be more pro-voucher than the conservatives. After all, the Dems' historic constituency is the same voter "block" that is said to benefit the most from vouchers.
Awhile ago, I said that the best hope that the Dems have in 2004 is to make themselves over as the War Party.
This is the same thing.
Click over to Postmodern Politics and leave your comments there. Or here.
I'd be interested in what you have to say.
Truely tremendous blog!