In a privatized system of education, providers who were unable to attract customers would go out of business. In fact, we trust parents to make choices for their children all the time, in every imaginable arena, except in education. In all but the smallest minority of cases, parents care more about their children than anyone else can. I'm much more comfortable trusting parents to make education decisions for their children than trusting bureaucrats and government officials. I suspect that many of your readers may even believe that their children may be the first generation that learns less than their parents did.
Polls indicate that such matters are very much on their minds.
For many people, it is simply a fear of the unknown. They are fearful of increased choice, especially free markets for education. I think a compelling case can be made, but we need an educational campaign to make the case better known. We also need to be able to demonstrate the value of educational choice in practice. In addition to choice opponents who simply fear the unknown, there are other choice opponents who know full well what choice would mean, and they don't like it.