Whats wrong with school vouchers?

Question

whay not let people choose what school their children go to rich or poor? if a child of a poor family is stuck in a school that is not teaching them then why not give the federal money to the parent and let them choose another school?and dont give that crap about they might put their kids in a chritsian school, so what? that is not an endorsment of religion by the goverment. rich people do it all the time, but with their own money. is this not the land of the free? why do we allow teachers unions to hold our kids hostage. have you seen john stossle report "stupid in america" if not here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA
the federal gubment give each state money for your child if they go to public school, why cant we have a say so in what happens to that money?

and why is it that teachers always say all they need is more money? i think putting more money into it causes more problems. why is it that there are private schools that teach the kids better with alot less money

so far these answers are uninformed you need to click my link and you will see what im talkin about

Answer 1

Wow. Where to begin.

First of all, it's government, not gubment.

Proponents of vouchers often want to dismiss out of hand the fact that vouchers are constitutionally suspect and probably can not stand up to a less narrowly focused Supreme Court challenge, because they know its the best argument those against vouchers have. However, in the spirit of debate, I'll work with your dismissal of it.

Many localities have school choice known as open enrollment, where a student can choose a different school in the surrounding area based on available space.

The other problem with vouchers is that most current plans underfund what the parent would receive in a voucher and they would not be any better able to afford different schools than they can now. So the parents of poor children would not really have more choice and would be going to the same school they would be without the voucher, but now because the wealthier students in their neighborhood have fled thanks to vouchers, that school has less funding for that childs education. So the so-called marginal schools get worse...

Finally, the government can not afford to provide each student with the funds necessary to make it a well-funded program.

The beauty of our public education system is that it is for ALL kids, not just the wealthy. I am a product of public schools (not great ones in fact) and I managed to go to college and obtain a graduate degree.

Answer 2

I think there are three problems I see. One, is that it would be a form of government money going to religions. If, for example, one chose to send their kids to a religious school. I don't have a problem with that other then they would be using government money.

Second, it might underfund public schools. If everyone got to send their kids to private schools, and get their money that would go to public schools, then the public schools would end up being underfunded. that is why the system is the way it is now. Public schools get the funding in order to be as good as possible. then, if someone has the money, they can send their kids to private schools. But that is considered a privilege in order to keep funding in the public schools.

Lastly, you would see many kids go to schools specifically for sports. There is a high school where I live that is constantly in trouble because parents find all these loop-holes as a way to get their kids to go to that school so they can play sports. They'll live miles away and still find ways to get their kids in (ie fake addresses, relatives addresses, siting erroneous exceptions). The reason is the sports program is a lot better at that particular school.

Answer 3

My issue is that if vouchers were allowed for any schools, the liberals would start controlling the private schools that accepted vouchers. They would pass laws that would only allow schools to accept vouchers if they followed a set of rules. What if some activist judge decides that the first amendment "protects" students from hearing about God in schools that receive money from the government? (Kind of like it protects us from having to see the Ten Commandments at a courthouse in a country where 94% of people believe in God.) If no restrictions were passed, then preschools and daycares would demand that they get to accept vouchers. Vouchers would be great if liberals would leave them alone.

Answer 4

As a former school teacher, I have to say that I LOVE the idea of school vouchers. It would mean that parents would be more involved in student's lives, care about what they are doing and hold them AND teachers responsible.

However, there is one caveat to that. If you are going to do that, there must be better pay and better benefits for the teachers.

Answer 5

What they should do is give all schools money equally so not one school is better then another school.. Right there is the problem..

The problem with being able to choose where you send your child is this, Everyone wants to put there kid in the rich school, so the rich school now has 200 kids per teacher.. What will they learn now? Nothing.. Because one teacher would not be able to spread herself to that many students.

Answer 6

The 'problem' with vouchers is that they allow people to opt their children out of the failing public school system. More importantly, it robs the teacher's unions of power and more importantly to them, their ability to extort money from the American taxpayers. That means they are something we need a lot and quickly!