American Education and the Dynamics of Choice

by Jackson Lee, James Rinehart

Overview

This insightful look at American education explores difficult but realistic solutions to the education dilemma. Focusing on parent/student choice and the privatization/deregulation of public schools, Rinehart and Lee suggest that the lack of these two vital ingredients is the root cause of poor school performance. Any reform effort within the government-controlled education monopoly will inevitably fail because the present system ignores basic laws of human behavior—people want to operate in their own best interest and value most that over which they have direct control. The authors set out to prove that increased choice and unencumbered competition among schools result in dramatic educational improvement. Writing for the professional educator and the general reader, Rinehart and Lee view the American educational system from a provocative and new perspective.

The book reveals many of the current problems with public schools and explores different types of choice systems. Rinehart and Lee achieve three main goals. They first demonstrate that public school systems consistently fail because of their failure to adhere to certain fundamental laws of human behavior. Second, they make a case that the current reform movement in education will fail or fall short of expectations. Finally, they propose challenging, realistic solutions that focus on educational choice and privatization of public schools. The authors point out that as a rule the more choice, the better. American Education and the Dynamics of Choice maintains that all public schools should be sold and parents should be given vouchers by the government permitting them to enroll their children in any private school they wish.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275938239
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/30/1991
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1270L (what's this?)

About the Author

JAMES R. RINEHART is Professor of Economics and the Director of the Center for Economic Education at Francis Marion College in South Carolina. He has worked directly with public schools in an eleven-county area of South Carolina. Dr. Rinehart has published many articles in academic jourbanals and magazines and has written several monographs.

JACKSON F. LEE, JR. is Professor in the School of Education at Francis Marion College and the Director of its Elementary Science Leadership Program. Dr. Lee is an educational consultant and the author/coauthor of 17 articles and 11 instructional manuals. His previous book, Providing for Individual Differences in Student Learning, was co-authored with K. Wayne Pruitt.

Table of Contents

Preface
What Is Happening to America's Schools?
The Growing Interest in Educational Choice
Do We Really Need a Change?
Critical Questions: Deciding What We Want from Our Schools
The Question of Limited Means
The Question of Individual Differences
The Question of Individual Decision Making
The Question of Deciding How Much: Seeking the Optimum Level of Ignorance
The Question of How Education Should Be Produced: The Problem of Cost
The Question of Educational Quality: Can Government Provide It?
Improving Education Through Choice
Putting Choice into the Educational System
Privatizing Public Schools: The Best Approach to Choice and Excellence
Common Criticisms of Privatization and Choice
A Final Note
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

An educator and an economist argue that the problems of American education will never be solved as long as the education system is a government-controlled monopoly. The privatization or at least deregulation of the schools, and a real set of choices for parents and students are necessary for significant reform. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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