An Excerpt of an Editorial by John Krull, director of the Pulliam School of Journalism, in the Evansville Courier and Press:
...
We made a commitment, through law, to require education for all children in part to curb the big dogs' advantage. Voucher advocates say that their approach will help do that by further leveling the playing field.
But there is no real compelling evidence of that.
Studies on the subject have produced mixed results that often reflect the prejudices of their funding sources.
That is why it may be good to have Indiana's voucher law stand. Only having vouchers put into practice and struggle just as the current system does is likely to break the fever and bring otherwise clear-eyed people out of the dreamy state they're in.
Those folks see government and unions as the source of all problems. And government and unions have done some things wrong.
But it wasn't government or any union that pulled heavy industry out of many northern cities and turned them into ghost towns without vibrant and supportive neighborhoods. It wasn't government or a union that closed down factories and took away the tax base for many small towns across the country. And it isn't slow, stagnant government that routinely upends the economy in its search for more efficient ways to deliver goods and services.
No, market forces did all those things.
The moment we start meeting our educational challenges is the moment we honor our ancestors' wisdom – and acknowledge that, while the market is part of the solution, it's also part of the problem.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/apr/28/a-bad-case-of-school-voucher-fever/
