SCHOOL CHOICE

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you probably know that I send my daughters to a private school. It's not easy, as we aren't rich, but I think it's well worth the effort. Knowing that, it should come as no surprise that I'm an advocate for school choice. It's not a topic that gets a lot of play from the punditocracy these days, but it is an important one. That's why I was happy to read John Stossel's latest column.

Remember when the Postal Service said it couldn't get it there overnight? Then companies like FedEx were allowed to compete. Private enterprise got it there absolutely, positively overnight. Now even the Post Office guarantees overnight delivery sometimes. Competition works.

Why can't education work the same way? If people got to choose their kids' school, education options would be endless. My tiny brain can't begin to imagine the possibilities, but even I can guess there soon would be technology schools, cheap Wal-Mart-like schools, virtual schools where you learn at home on your computer, sports schools, music schools, schools that go all year, schools with uniforms, schools that open early and keep kids later, and, who knows? If there were competition, all kinds of new ideas would bloom.

Damn right. School choice would revolutionize education in this country. Unfortunately, there aren't many politicians out there willing to make it happen. When it comes to school choice, the vast majority of politicians fall into one of two categories:

1. Bought off by the teachers' unions.
2. Spineless.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that all these folks are opposed to private schools. Many of them have sent their own kids to private schools. But they'll be damned if they lift a finger to help working class folks to do the same.