One need only look at America's system of higher education to see how competition can create genuine excellence in the public sector. Many states, including California, provide state-funded scholarships for needy students that can be used at both public and private universities. In our best universities, university faculty are compensated on the basis of market forces and individual performance, rather than simply on the basis of credentials and longevity. And state regulation of public higher education is minuscule compared to the state's suffocating oversight of the public schools. Most important of all, no public university exercises monopolistic power over students in a particular geographic district.
University students are free and able to vote with their feet.
And when they do, the punitive consequences for the universities they leave behind are severe. America's colleges and universities are truly the envy of the world. They are an indication of what our lagging public schools could become if we were willing to take greater risks in the area of educational reform. There may be no single magic formula for instilling competition into the system. With our limited wisdom, we may need to try numerous methods before we get it right.