Dan Mitchell has this introduction:
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The Cato Institute’s Isabel Santa uses school choice as an example of why competition is better than government-imposed monopolies. The video explains that government schools cost more and deliver less, which is exactly what one might expect when there is an inefficient monopoly structure. The evidence about the school-choice systems in Sweden, Chile, and the Netherlands is particularly impressive. Leftists always argue that we should have government-run health care because it’s what exists in other nations. Yet they are conveniently silent about looking overseas when other nations are choosing market-based policies and getting better results.
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to this video about school choice:
Isabel mentions homeschooling, though I'm disapointed that she is so quick to dismiss homeschooling as an option for most parents.
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Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, public school, public education, education
4 comments:
I don't think that her observation about homeschooling usually requiring parents to live on one income is a dismissal. I think it does recognize that most families have two parents who work and have often arranged their lives such that having one stop isn't much of an option.
My dh once pointed out that he paid $65k a year for child care because that was the income that I'd given up. If I'd stayed in the field I was in, I would probably be earning around $100 a year now.
I will grant that we would be spending much of that on transportation, work clothes, increased eating out and child care afterschool. But I think that you do have to consider that for many families, homeschooling, especially initially, may represent a loss of income as one of its costs.
My favorite homeschool analogy is with food and cooking. Most people can see how awful a government monopoly on food prep would be. They want to be free to choose their favorite restaurant and choose their menu items. The freedom that ensures open restaurant choices will also serve those who choose to cook at home.
Likewise, exposing the flaws of educational monopoly will often aid the interests of home schoolers.
My understanding is the net income of a second parent working normally works out to a fraction of the second salary. If you were making $100,000 a year, then after taxes, day care, more clothes, more eating out and so on, the real increase to the family budget would be much, much smaller, maybe even in the $10,000 to $20,000 a year range.
I love your food analogy. It is funny to me how our nation went from locally controlled schools, often privately run with a highly literate society to federal and state controlled school, which are dramatically failing.
Most people recognize the value of allowing people to shop at any supermarket or restaurant. It is sad they can't recognize the same principles apply to public schools.
I would love for the government to have some kind of voucher system, but I just don't see it happening in the next ten years.
I agree that competition is the way to go. It is good for businesses to compete this is how the consumer gets better quality and forces other business to follow other competing business on the quality of their goods and services. That is why the public school system is bad in my opinion the monopoly ensures low quality is education, curriculum etc.. The cram as many kids as possible into one school (production line)and manufacture exactly the type of people the government wants them to be. We want our kids to be who they are! Thinking, doing, creating, exploring, taking risks, doing what they love and not what they feel they have to!
We feel school raises kids to have a JOB, we do not want that for our kids we are raising entrepreneurs!
Market Makers!
Thanks for the info what can we do how can we stop this Wall Mart world lol!
Traffic Solution: I'm glad to share the news. I really would love to see another five million children in America being homeschooled. It would make such a difference.
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