The solution to underperformance by many students will not be solved by vouchers or private schools. National testing may eventually be an answer, but not until there is a serious effort to get better teachers. That should be the biggest issue right now.
Every teacher who receives a license is not automatically a good teacher or even a well qualified teacher. Perhaps until that situation can be remedied it would be better to have national testing for teachers to see if they are properly teaching all the students, no matter what their background has produced. When the students enter school they are entitled to the best that can be offered, whether it’s in a rich or poor school district.
Handing out vouchers will help nothing; in fact, it is more likely there will be more discrimination against poor children coming from econom-ically disadvantaged schools.
If vouchers are given out, it will allow private schools to take only the students who are brighter and then, by perhaps raising the tuition (who could stop them from doing as they wish?), the poorer students will not be able to afford additional tuition, and those vouchers will be spent at the same schools the poorer students already attend. Books could cost more than many could afford, and then what would be left for those not able to attend private schools?
The original purpose of public schools was to provide an equal education for every child, no matter who or where. That’s what has been lost. It’s far more important to upgrade education to teachers and expect higher standards from them at every school than to provide more money for private schools.
