vouchers for schools

School vouchers; are they useful or destructive? This article takes no stance on either side but poses a great argument for both. Recently in the state of Washington urban city children have received the newest idea in increasing minority education, school vouchers. In districts where over half the children are below their required age appropriate reading level a change needs to be made. For some students this change came in the form of school vouchers. With these vouchers students can now attend private and charter schools on tax payer’s dimes. These new schools now give students the academic experience they would have never received in their old urban schools.

Many of the parents are praising this idea, claiming that they are certain that their child would have never known their potential if it had not been for this new voucher system. Patricia William, a single mother, said that at first she liked her son Fransoir’s public school, John Quincy Adams Elementary School, a tall sprawling building in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Teachers seemed good, but overwhelmed. It was other parents, not teachers, Ms. William said, who told her that Fransoir was hyperactive. “I was not getting quality information from them on time,” she said. “For some reason, it was not working.” From this new system Fransoir’s ADHD is under control and he is learning on an equal level with his peers. With success stories like this it is easy to see how this new system can truly benefit many of our minority and low income families.

On the flip side of this argument are the teachers and administrators, many of whom totally oppose this new voucher system. Marsha Parker, the principal of Turner Elementary school is quoted as saying, “vouchers and charters is a way of raping the public schools of students and resources.” Many educators feel that if students start fleeing the urban school system then many of the necessary changes that need to be made will never happen. Already schools are seeing a huge number of students leaving their districts. One school is being forced to merge with another jut to stay afloat