Thursday, April 16

Black is white, up is down, fans of choice and competition kill successful school voucher programs

What to make of Education Secretary Arne Duncan? From a Time interview:
I’m a big fan of choice and competition, and in our country, historically, wealthy families have had a lot of options as to where to send their children. And families that didn’t come from a lot of money had one option — and usually that option wasn’t a good one. The more options available, the more we give parents a chance to figure out what the best learning environment is for their child.
Lies. Cato explains:
[..] it is clear how Duncan twistedly reconciles both killing school choice and competition, and loving school choice and competition: It is all about who is doing the choosing. If schools and potential schools have to compete for the approval of government — of the same smarter-than-thou, bureaucratic apparatchiks who have given us atrocious public schools for decades — then that’s competition Duncan can embrace. But compete based on the approval and demands of the people the schools are actually supposed to serve, the people most interested in schools performing to high standards? In other words, compete for the approval and business of parents, especially without the choices first being fully vetted and approved by parents’ government betters? Well, that just shouldn’t be any choice at all!
Is it possible to detest public school teacher unions and the Department of Education as much as the ethanol lobby and agriculture subsidies? I think I've arrived.

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