Not everyone believed families should have the option of leaving the public schools. Over the past 15 years, however, the tables have turned. Public schools, the institution long championed as part of the solution to the dilemma of inequality, are now seen as a serious part of the problem. Particularly in the inner city, the public schools are failing in the mission of providing children with the skills to live productive lives and gain a foothold on the ladder of success. Now private schools are in the spotlight.
Apologists hold it up as a promising alternative to public education.
Some analysts and policymakers propose to privatize all public education through a system of universal vouchers, others to provide vouchers to enable inner-city children to escape the miserable schools in their neighborhoods and attend private schools. But the world of private schools is more complicated than its apologists would have us believe. The term private school covers a multitude of educational alternatives. Private schools constitute 25 percent of all elementary and secondary schools. The overall percentage of students who attend private schools has been remarkably stable over time.