Description
Book SynopsisDo vouchers offer real hope for economically disadvantaged students in American schools? David Van Heemst contends that school choice will give every parent, including poor ones, a voucher to select schools. Poor children will have the opportunity to attend the finest schools, and will have a major hurdle in their path, a poor education, removed. Building on a twenty-year tradition of jurisprudence, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in July 2002 that there is no Establishment Clause violation in a well-designed system of school choice. The evidence from the small scale choice programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland suggests that not only do poor children benefit by maintaining or increasing their standardized test scores but also that families become empowered. Many polls demonstrate that not only poor parents favor school choice but that many middle and upper class Americans do too. As more parents get the opportunity to select their children's schools, other parents will demand the same opportunity. Poor children will be the primary beneficiaries in a system of school choice. Schools and teachers will have the freedom to design curricula and methods targeted to meet the needs of every child. Not one child will be required to attend a substandard school merely due to economic status. Justice requires that we evaluate systems and societies based upon how the least of us is treated. Justice demands that our K-12 system be transformed to make it similar to our university system so that a child's parent may select any accredited school with a voucher. The educational challenges of poor children have been well-documented in this book and Van Heemst offers a tangible solution.
Trade ReviewA careful, persuasive, scholarly argument about one of the great issues facing American education. A must-read for anyone interested in overcoming poverty in America. -- Ronald J. Sider, president, Evangelicals for Social Action
David Van Heemst has written a thoughtful and comprehensive treatment of the most compelling civil rights issue of our time: the provision of equal educational opportunities for all American schoolchildren. Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, a wide chasm continues to separate children in terms of access to education. Van Heemst demonstrates that parental choice is the only way to empower economically disadvantaged families to secure the high-quality education their children desperately need. It is a timely book on a topic of immediate and urgent concern to all Americans. -- Clint Bolick, president and general counsel, Alliance for School Choice
David Van Heemst has provided us with a useful overview of the arguments for parental choice of schools as a matter of fundamental justice for poor families, a dimension too often forgotten in the arguments over market discipline and unfounded predictionsof new inequalitiessss -- Charles L. Glenn, Boston University
Here is the book that every parent, school administrator, and state legislator needs to read. Van Heemst picks up on the current changes taking place in school governance across the nation, ranging from Supreme Court decisions on down to local experiments. He, like others, is troubled by the failure of so many schools to serve those who most need a good education. He proposes a new public system of school choice that will empower the poor and do justice to every child. Public discussion of American education should not continue without attention to Van Heemst's argument and proposal. -- James W. Skillen, executive director, The Center for Public Justice
David Van Heemst has provided us with a useful overview of the arguments for parental choice of schools as a matter of fundamental justice for poor families, a dimension too often forgotten in the arguments over market discipline and unfounded predictions of new inequalities -- Charles L. Glenn, Boston University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Acknowledgments Chapter 2 Introduction Chapter 3 1. How Are the Poor Doing in Our Current U.S. System? Chapter 4 2. Justice: A Philosophy of Empowering All Parents Chapter 5 3. The Supreme Court Aids the Poor Chapter 6 4. Elements of a Good School-Choice Plan Chapter 7 5. What Is Happening in the United States with School Choice? Chapter 8 6. The Poor Benefit From School Choice Chapter 9 Conclusion Chapter 10 Select Bibliography Chapter 11 Index Chapter 12 About the Author
