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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (102636)	5/1/2005 1:59:59 AM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Hi Grainne. I stumble in to this thread from time to time. Then i disappear for awhile... Not enough time to keep up with all the threads on SI that I might be interested in. I did read those links you sent me about the voucher programs, but really couldn't determine from them what I thought about the whole thing. Whatever the merits of voucher programs the fact that libertarians would endorse them would seem to show that they are not universally against any government involvement in education. Just as someone who see a strong role for the government doesn't have to be totalitarian, someone who wants less government involvement and control doesn't have to be an anarchist, or even the hardest of the hard core libertarians. Accepting a general principle as being important, or even as most important, doesn't mean you don't hold other important principles and seek to find some balance. It makes me uncomfortable to send tax dollars to private schools when the most vulnerable students at the worst schools are not helped by that. 1 - If they are/were helped by this would you still have a problem? In other words is your issue a matter of your opinion a matter of what you perceive to be the practical results of the policy, or is it more a matter of an ideological objection? 2 - I think that such programs can help them, if its is structured to allow real choice for everyone. But it would take a major sustained effort. I don't think just allowing a few vouchers to a few students makes a huge difference. You have to either inject competition in to the current schools, or create enough competition to eventually replace them. Then the worst schools are pushed to improve or if they can't they can be shut down like any other business that doesn't meet customer demands. Tim