Is Educational Choice a Good Thing? Yes, If…. | IDEA

Is Educational Choice a Good Thing?  Yes, If…. | IDEA:

Is Educational Choice a Good Thing?  Yes, If….

by Kristan Morrison in democracy.edu
I am caught in a weird place. I am a public university professor in a teacher education program who prepares people to be state-licensed teachers in our public schools. Thus, some critics would argue that I am a tool of the public school/government monopoly over education. But I am also an advocate of many other types of schools -free schools , homeschooling (especially of the unschooling variety), Montesorri schools, Waldorf schools, Quaker schools, etc.....pretty much any school along the progressive end of the spectrum. My support of the latter types sometimes causes some to perceive me as an enemy or traitor to public education. 

I have had many conversations with people who choose private (or home-based) alternatives for their children and who argue in favor of charters and vouchers because they believe that if public educational dollars followed each child, then more families would be able to send their children to schools with progressive educational practices. I