Good for Clink Bolick for pointing out the shameful hypocrisy of Democrats on the choice issue.
There's something about our nation's capital that converts many leading Democrats to school choice. Perhaps it's the glimpse that Washington, D.C. affords into inner-city public schools.
But in most cases this appreciation of school choice extends only to their own children -- and not to the millions of children in failing public schools. Indeed, a nearly perfect correlation exists among Democratic presidential candidates who have exercised school choice for their own children and those who would deny such choices to the parents of other children.
Let me be clear: I don't blame anyone who lives in Washington DC (or any other city with miserably failing schools) from opting out of the system and sending their children to an excellent privaite school -- that's exactly what I do, in fact, with my three girls. But having tasted the benefits of school choice, I sure as hell don't try to deny it to others less fortunate than I am!
This reminds me of what someone said (I can't remember who first said it): the surest way to improve our public schools would be to require EVERYONE to send their children to a randomly chosen public school in their city. Then, the wealthy and the powerful, not just the poor and the marginalized, would care about public schools and things would change IN A HURRY! Just try telling a parent with money and power that they must send their child to a dangerous school that's a known, chronic failure... Can you imagine telling that parent to be patient and not worry because great efforts are being made to improve the school (likely the 19th such turnaround plan in the past 20 years, which maybe, if it's the most successful of all 19 plans, might, over 5 years, result in 20% of the children reading at grade level vs. the current 10% level)?! The mere thought of this is SO ludicrous -- but it shouldn't be!
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Selective School Choice
By CLINT BOLICK
WSJ, March 2, 2007; Page A11
There's something about our nation's capital that converts many leading Democrats to school choice. Perhaps it's the glimpse that Washington, D.C. affords into inner-city public schools.
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