Posted on: 07-22-2002 14:50
Eve Tushnet has been writing some great stuff on the issue of school vouchers. Here's one of many bits that I liked:
Some voucher opponents ask whether Christian voucher supporters would still favor vouchers if large numbers of parents began using them to send their children to radical Islamist madrassas. My response is basically, again, rich parents can already do this! If you're OK with madrassas for the rich--if you think they're wrong but you won't outlaw them, say--then saying poor parents can't use vouchers at madrassas is pretty weird. The basic claim here is that parents can direct their children's education in almost all cases. (There are obvious exceptions for child abuse; there are also restrictions such as testing that all children must pass, or school-certification requirements; but there aren't religious litmus tests.) If you deny that claim, you should oppose private schooling in general. If you accept that claim, you may have other reasons for opposing vouchers, but "some parents might make bad choices!" can't be one of them.
