School Choice by the Parents - Term Paper Example

Running head: School Choice School Choice School is a place where the teaching and learning process occurs. It is not necessary that all theschools are equally well for teaching and learning. Teaching and learning depends on so many factors other than the individual who performs it. The infrastructure facilities of the school have an important role in the process proper transfer of learning from the teacher to the student. It is not possible for even an efficient teacher to teach properly if the school does not possess adequate facilities. Same way it may not be possible even for a brighter student to get the proper learning about a particular topic if the school does not have enough teaching and learning facilities. Parents usually consider the infrastructure facilities of a school and the competence of the teaching staff before deciding about admitting their children to a particular school. In other words the right of a parent in determining a school of their choice cannot be denied. This paper briefly explains the topic school choice. Introduction “The term "school choice" means giving parents the power and opportunity to choose the school their child will attend. School choice means better and more abundant educational opportunities for all families, not just for those who can afford them” (School choice) The topic of school choice is highly controversial because of the lack of studies conducted about the utility of it and the possibility of social problems it can create in the society. Still, most of the American public welcomed this idea and consider it as their basic human right. “Choice is everywhere in American education. It is manifest in the residential choices made by families [and] in the housing prices found in neighborhoods [and] when families, sometimes at great financial sacrifice, decide to send their children to private schools…. [I]n all instances, these choices…are strongly shaped by the wealth, ethnicity, and social status of parents and their neighborhoods (School Choice Facts) “The federal “No Child Left Behind” Act provides parents of students in failing schools with options to attend the school of their choice; however, these options are limited to public schools. Private schools are not included in the program” (School Choice Facts) The American administration wants to ensure all the children in the country basic education and hence they have given the freedom to the parents to select the convenient schools for their children. In America there are different types of institutions like private, public and charter schools. There are also different types of privately financed voucher programs, tax credits and deductions etc in order to encourage the schooling of children. “Private school choice policies like vouchers, scholarships, or education tax credits help parents to enrol their children in a private school of choice. Public School Choice allows parents more opportunity to choose the best public school for their children by offering open enrolment within the public education system” (School Choice in America ) The parents should be allowed to select the school based on these advantages and the conveniences in order to ensure proper education to their children. Like most of other social activities, the topic “school choice’ is also have generate mixed reaction among the experts. Some people advocate the idea of school choice whereas some others strongly disapprove this idea. The major criticisms against school choice One of the major criticisms against school choice is that it will destroy the American public school tradition, siphoning off needed funds and decreasing quality in public schools while leading to segregation and division (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong) But the fact is that the choice will force the schools to improve their facilities in order to attract more students. No schools can function efficiently if the students were reluctant in taking admissions there. At present schooling is a business rather than service at least to the private management. So they will be forced to improve their quality of education in order to accommodate as much as students possible. As per the current statistics available even after the implementation of school choice concept, spending on public education is at an all-time high. “Per-student spending in the United States has doubled in constant dollars since 1971, from $3,931 then to $7,524 now” (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong). Another major point raised against school choice by critiques is that Choice will leave the poor behind in the worst schools (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong). The reality is that even the public schools are not 100% open to the poor and also the private schools are not offering much resistance to the admission of the poor as the critiques say. Critiques are of the opinion that even the brightest students may not get admission in good schools if we administer if choice is allowed. Rich people will capture all the seats available in the good schools using their money power leaving the poor far behind if choice is allowed as per their opinion. But the reality is that “more than 4,300 private schools in the U.S. enrol students with special education needs and over 4,700 of them service students’ medical health care needs. Six thousand private schools serve Title I students and over 10,000 of them serve more than 160,000 students eligible for the federal free and reduced lunch program. Far from being enclaves of privilege, private schools extend opportunity to some of America’s most disadvantaged students” (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong). The third criticism against choice is that extremists such as the Ku Klux Klan, religious cults, or other radical groups will start schools (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong). The above criticism seems to be meaningless since the federal law is so strong in this regard especially after the 9/11. Moreover parents will never send their children to such schools even if these extremist organizations were successful in establishing schools. Parents are always keen in their children’s education and they will always opt for the best. Another criticism labelled against choice is about allowing public funds to be used for tuition at religious schools. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2002, that a school choice program must not have the “purpose” or “effect” of advancing or inhibiting religion (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong).America is a secular democratic state which does not allow any segregation in the name of religion. In fact all the people irrespective of their religion can stay in America. The reality is that the religious schools in America admit children of other community like all the other public or private schools and no religious schools have been reported so far, denying the admission of children of other community. The religious schools are more actively participating in the community services and the social activities compared to other schools and hence the criticism against them is baseless. Accountability of the private schools is another major area of concern for the critiques while allowing school choice. They believe that private schools are motivated only by the profit making motto and hence they will use strategies to increase their profit rather than increasing the quality of their education service. But the above argument also seems to be not true since most of the American states have strict laws regarding the functioning of private schools. It is not possible for the private schools to function as they like by sacrificing the quality of education. Moreover, the parents have the choice, not to send their children to under performing schools. So it is not possible for a private school to operate in profit by under valuing the quality of education (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong). "A voucher rarely covers the cost of tuition. The losers will be the minorities and the low-income students." (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong). The above criticism is also pointless as many children from poor economic backgrounds were able to study in affordable private schools with the help of scholarships. It may be correct that in some highly expensive schools, an average student from a poor family background may find difficulty in either getting the admission or sustaining his studies. But in America, there are lots of affordable good quality private schools which can be utilized by the poor students. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, Georgetown, and Harvard found that Black students participating in privately funded voucher programs in Dayton, Ohio, New York City, and Washington, DC performed significantly better on tests after two years in private school than did the students who remained in public school. In addition, the participating students narrowed the gap between their scores and those of white students by one-third. (Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong) All the above points clearly establish the need of school choice even though critiques have different opinion. If we deny the opportunity of a student to study in a school of his choice, it may create psychological problems to him and he may lose the interest in his studies. He may think that he has denied the opportunity to study in the best school and the school at present he is studying is far below the standards. Conclusions Parents must be allowed to select the school of their choice in order to ensure proper education to their children. The criticism labelled against choice such as destruction of public school tradition, creation of two types students in the society, denial of opportunity to the poor students in private schools, usage of public funds for the growth of religious schools, increased tuition cost and less voucher money etc are baseless allegations against the school choice program. America is a secular democratic country which respects all kinds of human right issues. School choice right is a human right issue and hence it should be encouraged at any cost. Most of the studies conducted about the advocacy of school choice have yielded positive results against al, the criticisms labelled against it. More importantly, the educational standards and achievements of private schools seem to be outscored that of the public schools even though critiques have different opinions. The idea of school choice should be encouraged and enhanced at any cost in order to preserve the quality of education and also to allow the public to get proper education of their choice. References 1. School choice, 2009, Retrieved on 21 September 2009 from http://www.edreform.com/Issues/School_Choice/ 2. School Choice in America, Retrieved on 21 September 2009 from http://www.heritage.org/research/education/schoolchoice/?CFID=76912506&CFTOKEN=82362098 3. Nine Lies About School Choice: Proving the Critics Wrong, 2005, Retrieved on 21 September 2009 from http://www.edreform.com/Archive/?Nine_Lies_About_School_Choice_Proving_the_Critics_Wrong 4. School Choice Facts, 2002, Retrieved on 21 September 2009 from http://www.schoolchoiceinfo.org/facts/index.cfm Read More