Entrepreneurs have recently come up with ways to profit from the public's willingness to pay for educating their children and from business' desire to train workers, often using the Internet as a vehicle. It has permitted some paradigm shifts to occur that have created new business models that really weren't feasible in the past. These schools are often funded by charters that allow them to operate outside the regular public school system while still getting funding from taxpayer dollars. He says there's too little research available to draw any conclusions about how charter schools are working so far. And he adds that some people fear that the spread of charter schools and vouchers could lead to more division along religion, language, and political lines.
Opposition is still strong to business interests having a heavy hand in education.
The bottom line, however, is that America's educational system is facing increasing pressures, including troubled urban schools, a coming teacher shortage, and low U.S. rankings internationally in math and science. What Vouchers Can and Can't Solve Choose a category Chart Adv. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.