School
Choice: Why We Need It-How You Get It
by David Harmer
Customer Comments
melonbal@aol.com from Dover,
DE, January 16, 1999
A excellent guide to school choice principles
This is a well written, concise guide to
the ideas behind the movement toward school choice. It particularly outlines
the story of Proposition 174, the Parental Choice in Education Initiative
that was on the ballot in California in 1993. This book is written by the
author of that initiative, who also headed the Excellence Through Choice
in Education League, the organization that promoted it. I was really amazed
to find out what really happened, as we were in California at the time,
and were quite excited about the initiative. It was way ahead in the polls
at first, but then the educational establishment viscously attacked it
using all their resources, which resulted in its defeat. This book explains
how many of the arguments that its opponents used were unfounded scare
tactics. In this book, you can read the actual text of the initiative itself,
and make up your own mind on the merits. If you are worried about the decline
of public schools, condoms in the schools, etc., and think parents should
have more say over their children's education without financial penalty,
then you should read this book. I also highly recommend "Financing
Education: The Struggle Between Government Monopoly and Parental Control,"
by Quentin L. Quade. It is well worth the price. I think school choice
is an idea whose time has come. The question is how the exact details should
be ironed out.
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