*Ellmyruh steps onto her soapbox*

> This tears down the public schools by reducing available funds. What does it do for the private school? It increases their enrollment and provides money to widen the gap between public and private schools. If the process continues, there might someday be no public schools and all of the private schools would have the very same problems that have reduced the effectiveness of public schools.

I highly doubt that this day will ever come, unless every single parent in the whole country suddenly becomes amazingly rich. In most cases, the vouchers do not cover the full cost of tuition, books, uniforms (if applicable), and other fees at private schools. I know there are a lot of caring, loving parents out there, but many of them simply cannot and/or will not find the extra money to put their children in private schools.

> First of all, where I live, huge amounts of school funding are wasted on teachers union crap and other things that don't have anything to do with educated children.

Unions do serve a purpose. Without them, employees have much slimmer chances of bargaining for pay raises and other perks. I think most of us know how little teachers are paid, in comparison to the amount of work they do.

> Right now, public schools basically have a monopoly on education with government funding.

Speedball made a good point when he said that public schools are a government responsibility. Of COURSE public schools should receive government funding!

> It would be in the best interest for progress in education to give these public schools some competition, so they'll actually have to give children quality education in order to keep students coming to those schools.

Why do people always see education as a big competition? The point is to learn, not to be better than others.

> So, by allowing public schools and private schools to compete, the quality of all education should rise. And isn't that what capitalism is all about?

No, if you take away the little funding that public schools do have and then turn around and give it to the private schools, the public schools will just get worse. A school cannot function without money.

And, another point: Public schools accept ALL students and private schools do not. Private schools have the right to reject any student that does not conform to their standards, and thus giving their teachers a slightly easier workload. While I do whole-heartedly respect teachers who work at private schools, I do think public school teachers have it harder. They face overcrowding and children who have parents that do not care if their kids stay in school. Private schools can restrict the number of students they admit, and most parents who spend money on their children's education actually care.

*Ellmyruh steps off her soapbox*

Ell"That felt good!"myruh