A tightly argued effort to reduce the crisis mentality about
American education and suggest that shopping for schools is not the
same as shopping for VCRs. The idea of giving taxpayers vouchers
and allowing them leeway to pick and choose schools for their
children surfaced in modern times about 30 years ago, says Henig
(Political Science/George Washington Univ.; Public Policy and
Federalism, etc. - not reviewed). Economist Milton Friedman was the
early proponent of vouchers - a better-mousetrap idea (build a
better school, and they will come) - and freedom of choice became
the soundbite. But it was an idea that got distorted during the
civil-rights era of the 1960's and '70's, when southern states
grabbed it as a justification for segregated "academies." Market
choice surfaced again during the Reagan and Bush - and Clinton -
administrations over what was generally agreed to be a crisis in
American education. SAT scores were falling, high-school graduates
were "illiterate," US students were ignorant of math, science,
geography, and the foundations of Western culture. To some, choice
became a code-word for either segregation or desegregation; to
others, it was the answer to bringing American students up to par
in the global economy. Henig argues here that the "crisis" in
education is exaggerated, and that setting up competition among
schools via vouchers or other directly competitive systems evades
the complexity of the problem. Vouchers are still under debate, but
now-popular magnet schools are a model of one variant of market
choice. Citing the usual suspects - New York City's District 4;
Montgomery County, Maryland; the Twin Cities - Henig's claim is
that choice succeeds when government support and citizen
involvement are strong, political leadership is focused, and
educators have a goal. An intricate but fair-minded discussion that
ultimately - while for choice - comes down against market-based
vouchers. (Kirkus Reviews)
Advocates of school vouchers and other choice proposals couch
their arguments in the fashionable language of economic theory.
Choice initiatives at all levels of government have succeeded, it
is claimed, because they shift responsibility for education reform
from government to market forces. This timely book disputes the
appropriateness of the market metaphor as a guide to education
policy.
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