The school choice movement is one that has gained much momentum over the course of its run, and will likely continue to do so. Currently, 45 states, along with the District of Columbia, have enacted laws for charter schools, and in the 2015-2016 school year, over 2.8 million children were attending charter schools in the United States. Another 3.5 million students are educated in magnet schools across 46 states, and 16 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico have school voucher programs. With this and more, the movement has undoubtedly had a significant impact on modern American education. But as is the case with many movements, it wasn't always as well supported and well-known as it is today. Within this article, we will be going back to the beginning, and overviewing the movement's history. Should you wish to learn more about the history by the end of this summarization, consider consulting our source materials for a more detailed look.
The earliest forms of school choice within the United States are considered to lie in the beginnings of American society (late 18th century to the early 19th century), before education was compulsory, and was more of a privilege relegated to those who could afford it. Parents would choose where their children would go to school based on their own criteria (location, reputation, values, etc.), rather than it being determined for them. Religion also played a role in setting forth roots. The Blaine Amendment, a failed addition to the U.S Constitution from the late 19th century, proposed cutting off government funding to schools with religious affiliations. Despite its failure on the national level, it was adopted into many state constitutions. During this time, as immigrant Catholics (mainly from Ireland) began arriving in the mostly Protestant nation, a wave of Anti-Catholicism swept through, and one of the ways that Catholics were targeted was through the enforcement of the Blaine Amendment. In response, they established their own privately funded schools, a move that Protestant branches soon followed. Despite these and other events, there was no real recognizable movement, and it wouldn’t be until many years later that we would see one. In the meantime, private entities would exist and operate, but would slowly be taken over by the government, as education became centralized and the public school system formed and strengthened. The movement as we know it today began during the 1950's, generally linked with Brown v. Board of Education. At the time, separate but equal policies dominated the country, with schools being no exception. The case was one of five to make it to state or federal courts, after African American parents were denied the ability to transfer their children to better or closer schools or were denied from partaking in other services like transportation to school, as a result of segregation and racial inequality. Brown v. Board of Education in particular, which was decided in the Supreme Court, proved to be the landmark case, prompting the desegregation of schools on a national level. And it not only became a key event within the civil rights movement, but it also contributed to the general idea of parents having the right to choose where their children can be educated, rather than it being decided for them. Not long following this ruling, economist Milton Friedman, considered by many to be the founder of the modern school choice movement, penned the essay The Role of Government in Education in 1955. Friedman took a more economic approach to education, proposing an alternative system based on free market values: Schools would be run by private enterprises instead of the government, and parents would be given an allowance of sorts. They would be able to choose which school to send their child to, and use the allowance to pay for tuition, provided the school met basic requirements. In short, he was discussing voucher programs. Vouchers had existed long before this paper was written, and there were even some such programs going on in parts of the country, but Friedman effectively modernized and popularized the concept. Over the next few decades, various parts of the nation, such as Harlem in New York and Alum Rock in California, made their own attempts at expanding education options, whether as an experiment, or to improve upon the education being offered locally. Magnet schools began cropping by the late 1960's and early 1970's, offering specialized curricula, and attempting to encourage integration and the attendance of urban schools. Ultimately, as the years dragged on, and some programs failed, were absorbed into the public school system, or simply ended, the budding movement slowly faded. It would see its revival in the 1980's. In 1980, Milton Friedman would host a ten-part series on PBS called Free to Choose, which advocated for free market policies in the United States, and claimed that the current, more restrictive market practices hurt both citizens and the economy. The sixth episode, entitled "What's Wrong with Our Schools", looked specifically at American education, highlighting flaws within the public school system while advocating for decentralizing the school system and introducing more choice on the part of parents. Another instigator came in the form of the report A Nation at Risk, done by the Reagan Administration's National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1983. The report outlined and lamented the inadequacies of the American education system, prompting not only a call for widespread education reforms, but also a renewed push for alternative education options. The concept of charter schools also grew in popularity around this time. They were first introduced under that name by Ray Budde, a professor at the University of Massachusetts. He was interested in the organization of things, and particularly in his 1974 paper Education by Charter, the reorganization of schools. At the time however, his peers felt that it was a needless idea, and his paper was shelved. Following the release of A Nation at Risk, Budde would re-publish his paper in 1988, and the idea would gain traction. Albert Shanker, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, was especially approving of the idea, and supported Budde's proposals, taking his support all the way to state legislatures. Into the 1990's, states would begin drafting and implementing legislation for these new types of schools, with states like Minnesota and California being some of the earliest ones. Cyber schooling was also a budding format by this time, and it wouldn't be long after that cyber charters would emerge, and states would work to adapt them as well. There has been much controversy surrounding the movement, partly as a result of its history. It mainly comes down to the link with Brown v. Board of Education. School choice not only stood as a means of attempting to integrate schools, but conversely, to segregate them. Allowing more freedom with where one could send their children meant that those against integration could still choose to avoid it. Following the ruling, a "white flight" occurred, wherein white families against the verdict fled from urban areas to suburban areas in order to keep their children in segregated, sheltered environments. This association with retaining segregation still lingers today, and some who oppose the movement will point this part of its history out, claiming that vouchers or alternative schooling options are thinly veiled attempts at maintaining it, or that attempts at desegregation through these options have failed and only made the situation worse. In addition, Milton Friedman's dedication to the cause not only brought much attention and support for it, but also led to the general association of school choice as a conservative, Republican value, and has prompted criticism from some who judge it on a more political basis. And all throughout the movement's progression, there has been much divide. There are a variety of reasons people support the movement, these reasons sometimes becoming the focal points for disapproval of the whole movement, regardless of their prevalence; reasons like cutting education costs and boosting the economy, opening up opportunities to students in impoverished areas, and protecting religious freedom, to name a few. But for most parents at least, their goal has remained a constant and relevant one since the very beginning: ensuring that their children have access to a strong education, and can learn in a way that best suits their needs. Article Written by Madeline Krout Sources:
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