School Vouchers A Ticket To F Essay

, Research Paper

School Vouchers: A ticket to failure

How do you solve the problem of failing public schools? The question has been answered many times by teachers, parents and students alike. It seems only logical that those who are a part of a failing school system are the only ones who know the magnitude of the problem and its possible solutions. Now, the government, more precisely President Bush and his immediate cabinet members, are looking to follow the steps of Bush s brother Jeb, and institute ill-fated voucher programs across the nation.

What exactly is the school voucher system? Essentially, a voucher would be given to select students attending failing schools in the amount of money that would have been allocated by the state to give to the school per student. This voucher supposedly gives the student enough money to attend a private institution. The belief is that a private institution provides a better education to its students. This in fact is true. As statistics show, students attending privately funded institutions perform better in college and on nationwide tests. Sounds like a good plan right? Wrong. Although the voucher system would give some students an opportunity for a better education it falls short by only giving the opportunity to some. What of the other students who do not receive a voucher? These students are in essence condemned by the state to a lower quality education and ultimate and tragic failure.

The problems do not end there. A school that is performing poorly will not just be shut down and consequently have all of its students receive vouchers. The failure of the voucher system lies in the fact that the school is still in operation for those students who did not receive vouchers and that the school is now operating with less funds, less faculty, and less chance for success. This seems to be an obvious fact that many people are over looking. Not only will vouchers fail to solve problems in the public school systems, vouchers will make the problem worse and more impossible to solve.

Also not recognized is the fact that private schools are not under the jurisdiction of the state. This fact reveals a multitude of problems and builds the case against vouchers. First, private schools are largely religious based. If government moneys were being used to fund religiously affiliated private schools, the line between church and state would be blurred. Furthermore, private institutions may discriminate in its selections process or even to those students in its institution and not have to face consequences from government. There would be no standard for the quality of faculty, the condition of the food served to the students, or the safety of the building in which the school operated. All this and more would be taken out of the hands of government and ultimately the people as select groups of individuals planned the future of America s youth.

Of course, the solution to this problem would be more government funding. Bush and his cabinet are now working on passing a budget that would call for a 1.6trillion dollar tax cut and increased military spending; money that would definitely benefit education. This money could be used to raise teachers wages, hire more qualified teachers, build better school facilities, and supply much needed technology boost to America s public school system. In the coming months this country will soon be tested as to where its priorities lie, and as to how much importance it places on the quality of education for the future of it s children.