Liberals argue that school choice will skim the best students out of the public system, and that parents may rely on poor criteria, like location or the star power of the principal, when selecting a school. Conservatives counter that education is ailing, and just because we cannot fix everything all at once for every student is no reason to deny a better life to some right away. They further believe that a little competition can only improve the public schools. And they are certain that parents know what is best for their own children, and that accordingly we should trust them to make good decisions. On the last point, conservatives would be well-advised to temper their vehemence.
Women make poor decisions every day.
They fall for financial scams, stay with abusive boyfriends and lie to special prosecutors. There are millions of parents in America, and alas, a significant percentage are not doing a very good job. He begins by recognizing that wherever vouchers have been offered, impoverished parents have flocked to take advantage of them. In Washington, D.C., for example, the Washington Scholarship Fund, a privately funded voucher program that pays up to half the tuition at private schools, received 7,573 applications for 1000 spots in 1998. Other cities have seen similar numbers.