Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ What Happens to School Choice if People Aren't Rational and Choose Bad Schools?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
For the longest time the mantra of the private school set was 'choice'. As in "If parents selected their children's schools, they would not choose bad ones, so bad schools would not be able to survive. Schools would have to improve or close." and choice, of course, would be impossible in the public system. Now that Obama has trumped the choice card with charter schools in the public school system, the rhetorical use of 'choice' has softened. So now I find myself in the position of agreeing with Dan Willingham. "School choice might benefit the system, or it might not. But the argument that it will work because 'Parents will pick the best schools for their kids' is not persuasive." And - importantly - it never was.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Oct 14, 2024 11:31 p.m.

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