Seriously, Folks: School Voucher Proponents Need to Get Real
Jeffrey wrote: “If Al Gore, George Bush, and any other politically connected family can send their kids to the best schools then the single mother living in inner-city Chicago, Boston, Philly, and anywhere else should have that same opportunity.”
They do have that opportunity. No one is refusing to allow single mothers in DC to send their kids to Sidwell Friends.
Imagine a DC with complete choice of schooling, much like we have the same choice of what supermarket to shop at and what cars to buy. Now if you can tell me that the single mom from inner-city DC is *really* going to be able to send her kids to Sidwell Friends, let me know what drug you’re taking, because I want some.
The fact is that tuition at Sidwell Friends and elite private schools like it is around $27K a year, which is likely to be more than the salaries of many inner-city single moms. There is NO WAY under the ideal free-market system that an inner-city kid’s parents are going to be able to afford that.
I really do not understand what fantasy world free-market advocates live in where the market is going to magically enable these kids to escape bad public school situations. These same people *have* the same opportunity to buy nice houses–yet live in roach-infested apartments in dangerous neighborhoods. They have the same opportunity to buy Lexuses and Hummers–yet drive crappy 20 year old Hondas or take public transit.
The problem is bigger–it’s about poverty and income inequity and the death of urban areas.
