Public Education at a Crossroads: The True Cost of School Choice
After watching Part IV of School: The Story of American Public Education , I was left with a complicated mix of emotions and reflections. This final segment confronts the idea of school choice—an idea that has gained momentum in recent decades as a potential solution to the challenges facing public education. As I considered the guiding question—“Does school choice improve public education?”—my answer became increasingly nuanced. While school choice offers some benefits in theory, the real-world consequences often reveal a deeper divide in equity, access, and opportunity. The more I considered the evidence, both from the documentary and from our country’s educational history, the more I concluded that school choice, as it is currently implemented, does not improve public education in a broad or sustainable way. Instead, it often contributes to a fragmented system that favors some students while leaving others behind. The concept of school choice is rooted in the belief that competition...