From: fay@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: alt.politics.elections
Subject: Re: The lie of "school choice"
Date: 1 Sep 92 09:31:12 -0500
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <16854CEE4.MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu>, MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu (Michael Edelman) writes:
> In article <1992Aug31.123606.6371@iscsvax.uni.edu>
> fay@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
>  
>>
>>I'm going to guess that most people in favor of school choice as a solution to
>>all of our educational woes come from cities.
>>
>>I grew up in western Wisconsin, from a town of less than 1500.  There was only
>>one school in town--in fact, we had students bussed in from two other towns and
>>a lot of farm routes to get my graduating class up to 80.
>>
>>If I had wanted to go to another school, how would I have gotten there?
>                          [...]
> This is the problem with being a Democrat- you're so insulated from, protected
> from and in general prevented from thinking about markets that you forget
> they exist ;-)

That's the problem with making assumptions.  I am not now, nor have I ever been
a Democrat.




>  
> Baumel's insight is that it's not the existing number of competitors
> that determine whether a monopoly exists, but rather two considerations:
> Barriers to entry, and a single producer. The existence of potential
> competition alone could cause an improvement in quality in schools
> (asssuming, of course, constant long run average and marginal cost).
>  
> Maybe, if the money was there, someone might *start* a school?

Cost of building a new school (in 1982) in my home town to service less than
400 students was several million dollars.  The area is one of the poorer in the
midwest, so tuitions certainly couldn't be very high.

Actually, a religious group did try to start a school (they used their church
as a building).  Part of the reason it died was that transportation was a huge
barrier.


 Once
> the monopoly is broken down new players can enter the market. Consider
> William Baumol's notion of *potential* competition- see his book, "Contestable
> Markets". Even the possibility of potential competition can act as a
> competitve force...unless competition is prevented by law.
>  

even w/o Bush's move, one can actually petition to change schools (although the
reason for moving ca't simply be to be on a better FB team).


> Take a look at Finland...where they've had choice for 70 years. It's
> resulted in both private schools *and* better public schools.
>  
Bravo for them.  I'm not denying that choice may help some folks. However,
when it is the only thing GHWB proposes, I'm concerned.  Moreover, the likely
result here is that cities and suburbs will get to use choice, and smaller
communities will help to pay for it.


> The quality of your reasoning certainly leads one to argue for choice in
> the hope that it might provide future students with a better background.


Jeez, good reasoning  include ad hominem attacks?
For the record, I was a national merit scholar, a two-time national champion in
a speech event which relies on analysis and quick thinking, and was paid to
matriculate at one of the nation's top universities.




> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>  Michael Joseph Edelman           Wayne State University
>  medelma@cms.cc.wayne.edu         Computing & Information Technology
>  mje@pookie.pass.wayne.edu        Detroit, Michigan
>  medelma@waynest1.bitnet          (313) 577-0742
>  KE8YY