Why Do We Accept So Little Freedom in Education?

Townhall3I’ve often wondered what the Founders would think of this simple fact: when a family moves into a neighborhood their children are owned by the local school district. Townhall.com’s Kyle Olson’s question is a good one:

America is supposed to be about freedom. One of the founding principles of our country is that we are naturally endowed with the inalienable right to choose how we want to live our lives.

We drive the cars we want. We shop where we want. We live where we want.

But many children have never had the opportunity to attend the schools that they and their parents might prefer. For decades, indeed generations, millions of kids have been assigned to attend government-run schools based on where they live.

Too many of those kids have been stuck in sub-standard schools, where there is little or no hope of gaining the type of education necessary to prepare for the modern world.

In states where school choice is becoming the norm – Indiana, Wisconsin and Lousiana, for example – that problem is not as prevalent. Many students from lower-income families have the right to use state vouchers to pay for private school tuition for those children.

Students in those states can escape from the cycle of failure that exists in many public school systems. Kids in states like Illinois have far fewer options.

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