The Boondoggle of Vouchers and School Choice :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Boondoggle of School Choice   The summer before my newbie year of high school, my suburban school district decided to implement a new school choice program developed for the state of Massachusetts. It is a program-limited choice similar to many others around the country. Schools offer a certain military issue of spaces in each class for choice students, that is, students from other towns who wish to serve well the school. Students apply and enter a random lottery system. If they are chosen, they become legally-enrolled students at the new school. The costs of the program are covered by the childs hometown or subsidized by the state.   The logic of the program (and all other choice programs) is that it offers students the ability to attend better schools than those in their hometowns. School choice is lauded as the gigantic white hope of American education. Lets give those kids a chance Lets take control of our childrens education Supporters claim that school choice w ill not nevertheless save our students, but it will also save our schools. Schools will be forced to improve their programs to remain competitive. Soon, all students will be attending the schools they requisite to, and all schools will be worthy of their students. School choice is the panacea for the problems of American education.   Or at least thats what the proponents of the program tell us. Unfortunately, they leave aside a some crucial points. School choice will not be the saving of the American mind. It is a desperate attempt to patch up the problems of our system by offering a few students a new option and calling it salvation. One is reminded of a great juggling act, where if a few students are shuffled around, we may not notice the others falling to the ground. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain . . .   Let me stress that I am not speaking as a bitter product of the system who feels that school choice has hurt her educational experience. When it was first installed in our school, a number of parents, students and community of interests members were outraged. They took a not in my backyard approach to the situation, bemoaning the influx of students from bad schools. They thought that the innocence of our town would be lost, as students who were different from our sheltered community were admitted.