Too much ‘freedom of choice’ harms students
State lawmakers recently eliminated a budget provision that would have prohibited public schools from charging fees for 4-year-old preschool. Earlier this year, a bill was proposed that would allow families with children in private schools to apply for a tax deduction. The legislative support for private education is here to stay and will likely grow throughout the coming years.
The goal of a private educational system is not necessarily bad. Every family should take the instruction of its children seriously. In order to do so, each family must have access to a variety of choices that allow parents and other relatives to make the right decisions about a child's future. Encouraging the growth of alternative education can give families the resources they need to make an informed decision.
In addition, there is no way of ignoring the failures of the public school system. When schools are not overwhelmed by safety concerns or low performance, they are saddled with enormous debts. As the competitiveness of the international job market continues to grow, education will become of central importance in the economic recovery of this country, and many doubt — with good reason — if American public schools can meet that challenge.
However, the standing principle of the public education system has always hinged on the idea of access for all, no matter one's personal or economic background. This ideal is one the private sector struggles with — to put it lightly. As South Carolina begins to move toward a more private-friendly education system, the economic divide that the recession deepened will only continue to grow. Tax breaks or not, the price of a private education, in this economy, is well beyond the limits of many families' budgets. It's a problem that business-friendly legislation cannot directly fix.
It also seems that the efforts to improve and promote private education could have been spent in helping to develop public education. State legislators seem ready to jump ship rather than steer clear of the shipwreck. Freedom of choice is a fundamental right, but this state will truly be proud when its residents can enjoy a stable, unified public school system that educates children to be free-thinking individuals and citizens — regardless of what's in their parents' bank account. That is the promise we should be making to the youth of today.
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