School Vouchers (Again)

Few would deny that top-flight educational attainment is critical for substantial upward mobility in today’s economic climate. An individual needs to be well-versed in a variety of fields and must have the flexibility to adjust to an invariably changing work environment. These traits can only be cultivated through a solid scholastic background, and it all starts with elementary and secondary schooling.

The dilemma is that our public school system, which has a stranglehold on education in this country, is in dire straits and is abysmally failing to provide a well-rounded academic background to our youngest generation. The problem stems from incompetent school administrators, deceitful teachers’ unions that only look out for the best interest and a lack of parental involvement, which is frustrated by layers of school-district bureaucracy that only serves the purpose of draining the public coffers. The depressing reality is that district administrators and personnel do not want parental participation because it undermines their system of dictating curriculum and settling for mere mediocrity in teaching children essential skills.

Fortunately, there is a solution to alleviating the death grip that failing public schools have on education: school vouchers. A system of school vouchers lets parents choose the school that best fits the need of their child, and allows them to pull their kids out of underperforming schools and place them in areas where their potential will be satisfied. Instead of property taxes — the primary source of funding public education — being tied to a particular school district, they would rather be attached to the individual student, allowing them to pick from a wide array of capable schools to suit their academic need. This would enable a drastic shift of power from unresponsive school administrators to a market-dictated, parental-choice medium.

The reason school vouchers and school choice are so critical to education reform is simply because school-aged children deserve the best education. The only way out of the failing public school system is for the districts to become more responsive to the needs of their students. By allowing schools to compete for their class base, students will benefit from the better curriculum established by schools that want to acquire as many students (and as much funding) as possible.

School vouchers also help the disadvantaged send their children to top-notch private institutions that they could otherwise not afforded because of their income. Instead of hearing bloated school administrators clamor about how they spend tens of thousands of dollars per pupil for an academic year, school vouchers will give the power of the purse back to the parents, now be armed with the ability to use those aforementioned thousands of dollars on quality education for their sons and daughters.

Despite denigration from the self-interested teachers unions and school administrators, school vouchers are not a radical concept. School vouchers have been used countries like Belgium for years with overwhelming success.

A proper education is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for an individual. Society should provid quality education to children by instituting a school voucher system.