School Vouchers: Good or bad?

[Brandon]

I personally like how school vouchers are set up in some countries (mainly in the EU). By attaching the money directly to the student, parents can remove their child from poor schools and place them into better ones.

Your thoughts?

 

[Furious George]

Great idea. Now all we need to do is reform our education system.

 

[Word2Action]

I have no idea about this, but it sounds like a pretty useful idea.

 

[sarah]

I think this is a good idea and maybe it could help out the US system of education.

 

[Proletarian]

I am against private schools. They work for the elite in society and mainly help the rich. With less public schools, not all children will have a chance to attend.

 

[Furious George]

School Vouchers don't necessarily mean privatization.

 

[l99999us]

I am curious just how exactly would they work.....

School Vouchers don't necessarily mean privatization.

 

[Brandon]

From my understanding, students would recieve a set amount of money and the parents would decide where their child would go to school. The school would then be paid by the government that amount of money.

So instead of the school getting the money and telling students they must attend a certain school, the parents get to decide. Parents would have the option of picking public or private schools.

 

[l99999us]

It is not a bad idea in theory but I think the main concern would be that it may drain money from certain school districts and not all kids would be able to leave those districts thus making them worse off in the process.

 

[kelkat]

Everyone would have the option of leaving any district or school. If earmarked the amount of money the education system is now spending per student to follow that student then the parents could easily afford private or public education. And the competition would force the schools to kick out the teachers who aren't doing their jobs and hire some that will.

 

[l99999us]

But that would assume that other schools were in the position to take in a large number of new students from the failing school. That would not necessarilly be the case and could leave many of the student's stuck even worse off then before. personally I think we should concentrate on how to make the public schools better.

Everyone would have the option of leaving any district or school. If earmarked the amount of money the education system is now spending per student to follow that student then the parents could easily afford private or public education. And the competition would force the schools to kick out the teachers who aren't doing their jobs and hire some that will.

 

[kelkat]

That is the way to make the public schools better. Some people will stay in the school they are at and give it a chance. Some will stay because it has the best sports programs. Some will move because they want something different (like arts or science).

The present system is beyond fixing. And it's only getting worse. We, as a country, fall farther and farther behind the rest of the world in education every year. It's time for drastic measures and this is probably the best short of shutting down the gov't system altogether and allowing the private industry to take over completely.

 

[Brandon]

I think this system would be a win-win. The students would get a better education and it might even save the taxpayers money in the process.

I don't believe in the "as strong as your weakest link" non-sense. America is not about a collective per-se, but as a collective with millions of individuals doing their own thing.

While I don't want any child to be left out of this system, the current educational system is failing all kids. My concern is to minimize this. You can't save everyone. So lets give the majority of the kids the best education possible.

 

[l99999us]

I am not sure this will benifit the system as it could drain money from schools that despiratly need it.. And i do think their are certainly many public schools that do a good job with education (even better then some private schools). The solution I think is to improve all schools. Privatye schools are certainly an option for those who want them but I don't think they are the whole solution.

And I do agree individuals should do their own thing but their is a need for collectives services. That is why we have the police dept, fire dept etc. And education is certainly impoirtant especially as our economy depends on an educated work force.

 

[palefrost]

I just heard about this the other day. My sister in law was telling me she wished this was available by her because then the schools would be competing and TRY. At the present time she feels alot of teachers are coasting and the school systems in the area know the parents have to use them.