position essay MLA FORMAT no less than 800 words Please keep in mind that outside sources should be used in this essay, at least 1. Also, remember that all of your writing is automatically submitt

One of the biggest dangers of school choi ce is the po we r behind large corporations sp ec ializing in op ening and op era ting charter schools. Two not able comp anies are Gree n Dot, which is the lea ding public school op era tor in Los Ang eles (Gree n Dot), and KIPP , which op era tes 65 schools in 19 differe nt states [KIPP] . Th ese comp anies represent a growing trend of privatization of public schools by large corporations. It is feare d that these corpo rations could grow to a point that public cont rol of educa tion would be lost. Edu ca tion poli cy would be left in the hands of entrepreneurial think tanks, corpo rate bo ards of directors, and lob byists who are mo re int ere sted in profit than edu cating stud ents [Mill er and Ger son ]. Edu cation should be left in the hands of profession al edu ca tors and not busin ess people with M BAs. To do oth erw ise is not on ly dangerous, it defies common sens e. The validi ty of school vou cher programs has met num erous challenges, with results varying from state to state. At the ce nter of the divided opinions is whether or not it is constitution al for the federa l gov ernm ent to give mon ey direc tly to private schools, many of which are religious ly based. Acc ording to the NEA “A bout 85 perce nt of private schools are religious. Vouchers tend to be a mea ns of circum venting the Constitution al prohibitions against subsidi zing religious practice and inst ruction [NEA].” One mi ght view a pare nt’s cho ice to send child ren to a religious school using gov ernm ent fund ed school vou chers as acce ptable Liles 4 consid ering that fami ly pays taxes and it’s on ly fair that they have a say in where the mo ney is sp ent on behalf of their child ren. But consid er the many people who have no child ren, or who have grown child ren that no lon ger participate in the public school system. Th ese people still pay taxes to suppo rt public edu ca tion, and it is on ly reason able to consid er that they may ob jec t to the funding of religious schools with the tax mon ey they are paying. It is clear from any point of view that far mo re peop le obj ec t to vou cher programs than benefit. The public school system guarantees an educa tion for every child in our nation. It bec om es appare nt that this isn ’t the ca se after examining the various scho ol choi ce options. One must also consid er the fate of sp ec ial nee ds stud ents which requi re many addition al hou rs of direc t teacher attention. Th ese stud ents could easily be viewe d as “too expensiv e” to edu cate and could face sub -stand ard trea tm ent or even exclusion in profit mind ed, corporate op erated, charter schools. Ev en vou cher programs poss ess a hidd en selec tive element when one consid ers that religious schools are allowe d to choose their stud ents. Pare nts may app ly to the school for admission of their child ren, but the school may choose to not admit them [A TF]. The on ly way to truly guarantee equ ality in public educa tion is to inv est in our public edu ca tion system. America was the first count ry to provide public edu ca tion to all and we must ensu re that it is not erod ed by school choi ce . It can bee see n that charter schools, while attrac tive at first, fade und er clos er examin ation. The dangers of huge corpo rations taking control of edu ca tion are rea l. Consid er what would have happened if En ron wa s involv ed in edu ca tion. And vou cher prog rams, also attractive und er first light, bec ome less app ea ling after cons idering their constitution al legality and the fac t that private schools are allo we d to prac tice a form of “stud ent choi ce” . All of the scho ol choi ce initi ativ es are answer s to the probl ems facing public educa tion. But consid er that for dec ades public edu cation has su ffe red from lack of prop er fundi ng [Ha ider- Liles 5 M arkel]. W ithout prop er fundin g, public schools have never had a legitim ate chance to su ccee d. W hy do n’t people pu rsue a simple ans we r to a simple probl em? America n’s should fund the public schools adequ ately so they ca n get the job don e. It’s a simple ans wer that will work. Liles 6 W orks Cited AFT “The M any Names of School Vou chers.” American Federation of Teachers. M arch 2001. AFT. 22 June 2008 . Chubb, John and Terry Mo e. “The Debate Over School Choi ce .” Constit utional Rights Foundation. 28 June 20 06. CR F. 22 June 2008. . Dee pth Th attai. “A Histo ry of Public Edu ca tion in the Unit ed States.” ServInt. Nov emb er 2001. 22 June 2008. < http:// www .servint free .net/~ aidmn -ejou rnal/publi ca tions/2001 - 11/ Publi cEdu ca tio nInT heU nit edStates.html >. Gree n Dot. “Frequ ently Ask ed Questions.” Gree n Dot Public Schools. 2007. To ny Schen. 20 June 2008. < http:// www .gree ndot.o rg/about_us/ frequ ently_ask ed_qu estio ns>. Ha ider-M arkel, M aier, M cD onl ald, Percy. “Public Schools Funding Issues.” Institute for Wisconsin ’s Futu re. 20 07. W isconsin Alliance for Exce llent Schools. 21 June 2008. . KIPP . “O verview .” KIPP. 19 June 2007. KIPP Corpo ration. 21 June 2008 < http:// www .kipp.o rg/>. Mill er, Steven and Jac k Ger son. “The Corpo rate Surge Against Public Schools.” Scribd. 18 M arc h 2008. 19 June 2008. < http:// www .scribd. com/do c/2304695/Th e-Corpo rate-Surge- Against -Publi c-School s?page= 7>. Liles 7 NEA. “V ouchers” National Edu cation Asso ciation. 2008. NEA. 22 June 2008. .