ABSTRACT
We are indisputably in an era of “school choice.” Even if we discount those children whose parents choose their residence based on their desired school district, nearly one-quarter of U.S. schoolchildren attend a school-private, public, or in the home, through charter, voucher, or magnet programs-that was chosen for them (Henig and Sugarman, 1999, p. 29). Many progressive educators bemoan the era of choice as an end to the ideals embedded in universal public schooling, viewing “choice” as the beginning of the end of the common school ideal. But is the choice to leave a traditional public school a choice to leave public education?
