The voucher debate has kept educational issues prominent in my brain for quite some time now. Before spending so much time thinking about these issues it was easy to recognize the image of hypocrisy in those who stump for public education and keep their kids outside the public education system.
A far greater percentage of public school teachers around the country — especially in urban areas such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — send their own kids to private schools than does the general public. . .
These people stump for public schooling, opposing systems of school choice. And yet, they choose to opt out of the system they allegedly shore up . . . from competition.
What I find amusing now is that I have publicly declared my position to be the very opposite of those featured in the article above. I favor the very legislation that they oppose as a means to achieve the very thing they advocate (better public schools). While favoring the voucher laws I have also declared that I intend to do what I can to encourage parents not to abandon the public school system and to make the vouchers unnecessary for most parents by improving the schools. I’m sure this is not as interesting to read as it was when the thought struck me that I may be as much a hypocrite in my position as they are in theirs.
Where teachers and politicos send their kids has been no secret for some time now. Nationally, teachers opt for private schools about twice as often as the average parent. In big metropolises, the ratio is even higher. What do teachers know that we apparently don’t?
Based on the number of people who are very interested in vouchers I would say that we must have some inkling of what it is that they know – or maybe I’m biased by my own degree in the field of education.
There is no hypocrisy in compromise in this instance.
Support for vouchers is simply support for more choice.
1) Vouchers will ultimately lead to more money for public schools, not less.
2) As a result of the above scenario, the end-game for vouchers will not likely be the end of public schools. Past results show that both public and private schooling will be improved by them.
The “apparent inconsistency” that caught my attention was my plan to vote for vouchers and then try to persuade people not to make use of them.