School Choice and Bread Lines In Delaware
This past November 3rd, early on that Monday morning, literally hundreds of parents were lined up outside of the Brandywine School District’s offices to sign their children up for the school choice program. More than 30 parents actually camped out overnight for a spot at the front of the line. The first people started forming the line at 2 pm on Sunday. All this for the opportunity to snatch up some of the district’s limited number of spaces.
“They closed so many schools this year, everybody’s panicking,” said Carla Woods of Claymont. She was one of the parents who camped out outside the office. “I’m freezing,” she said.
This is not the way things are supposed to be. But what’s the problem?
The Cato Institute’s blog, Cato-at-liberty.org, makes a great analogy: Imagine if the story’s headline was “Bread Lines Form at Whole Foods” and the lead read “hundreds of shoppers lined up early this morning hoping to be among the lucky few to get their groceries at the Brandywine Whole Foods store, taking their place behind about 35 others who had camped out overnight for a spot at the front of the line.”
That would be unthinkable; because in a free market, if a business has increasing demand, they just expand their supply. The idea that there would only be a limited amount of bread in any given area is absurd. But the education system operates outside the free market. Schools don’t open or close or grow and shrink based on market pressures. Competition doesn’t affect the quality of schooling. So, as Cato puts it “when parents are offered even some paltry degree of choice within their public school district, it must be rationed like bread at a centrally planned Soviet bakery.”
So what’s the common sense thing to do? It’s a tough question, vouchers are a step in the right direction, but we should think about a drastic measure. What would happen if public schools were abolished? Would it be that terrible? What do you think, Common Sense Investors? Check out Lew Rockwell’s essay on the subject and let me know your opinion here in the comments.
I couldn’t agree more. I was “homeschooled.” Personally, I find the “need” of our public schooling system to be absurd. Perhaps it’s because I live in Arkansas, where the standard of education is simply surreal. Regardless, we know that literacy rates were actually higher before our modern state system.
I’d suggest the book, “The Underground History of American Education.” It’s a great classic about the flaws of the entire foundation of our current system.
Once again, great site. I enjoy it.
[...] But interesting question here is, why is Tom Farber forced to do this to get the money he needs? Public schools are, on average, twice as expensive as private schools, and yet, public schools are having funding shortages, what’s going on? The answer is simple, public schools operate outside of the free market. So the natural pressures of the market that push businesses to increase quality while decreasing price aren’t there. If a school lacks quality, often times it gets increased funding, so the pool of funds gets sucked away by the inefficient parts. CSInvestor has a post about a similar issue. [...]