School Vouchers Research Paper

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Civil rights activist Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Since the beginning of American History, education has always been an essential tool to empower children and young adults all across the nation. There have been many strategies and challenges that have taken place within districts which seek to provide the best education possible for all. One of those in which some believe are school vouchers. School vouchers, also referred to as opportunity scholarships, are state-funded scholarships that pay for students to attend private school rather than public schools (Citation). The question among many is whether school vouchers benefit our educational system or do they ultimately …show more content…

Public polling data reports that 70 percent of Americans and 61 percent of North Carolinians oppose school vouchers (Public, 2000). The concerns about vouchers for private education leaves public education in a state of oppression. These concerns include loss of funds for public schools. The loss of tax dollars may reduce academic programs and the teaching staff at traditional public schools. On top of that private schools have not been proven effective in refining student academic performance. According to multiple studies of the District of Columbia, Milwaukee and Cleveland school voucher programs, the targeted population does not perform better in reading and math than students in public schools. The U.S. Department of Education studies of the D.C. program show that the students using vouchers to attend private schools do not believe that their voucher school is better or safer than the public school they left (Americans, 2011). According to the GreatSchools staff, while most people assume that teachers at private schools are as qualified as those at public ones, it’s important to note that all teachers in a public school are usually state certified or, at a minimum, working toward certification (GreatSchoolStaff, n.d). However, in private schools most teachers are not even required to have a teachers license. According to the article “School Vouchers Are a Good Alternative to Public Schools” by Gary Jason, Jason claimed that recent research shows that voucher schools have better outcomes than public schools with respect to student performance, improving competition, improving graduation rates, and decreasing school violence (2014). Yet according to the National Education Association, even in situations where students do switch from public school to private school, school

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