Education Vouchers
The editors of the Wall Street Journal ask today: “If unrestricted federal education grants are kosher for college students, why not for grades K-12 too?... what no one wants to admit is that Pell grants are essentially ‘vouchers,’ with the decision about where to spend the money in the hands of parents and students.”
My answer is that I’ll freely admit the grants are vouchers. The real question is what will happen when it becomes unprofitable to educate the poor? Probably about the same as what happens when it becomes unprofitable to care for the sick.
There is another possibility, however: corporate schools may find corporate sponsors for whom they provide suitable recruits, thus completing the return to a feudal society. In this model, it’s clear enough who the serfs are, but what about the fiefs? How about the defense industry, for one? The punitive damages lawsuit industry might be another. And of course there’s always the most special interest of all, corporate access to our natural resources. You want democracy? Make that an issue and vote on it.
