ABSTRACT
Few school reform movements have aroused such deep public passions as school choice. On the face of it, this is somewhat surprising, because school governance issues have seldom electrified educators or the public at large. How schools are organized normally does not seem as important as curriculum, pedagogical practices, or academic values. Today, however, the issue of school choice has become a national debate. Sides are being taken, and lines are being drawn. Clearly, there is a political and educational context for this debate, but there is also a very deep philosophical and moral subtext. The political and educational context is about school improvement, but the philosophical subtext is about values, identity, and freedom. Undoubtedly, school choice has become infused with emotion because it is an educational reform that goes directly to the heart of several American dilemmas. What is the correct balance between individual and family freedom and the rights of the community? How can public education be improved? Are markets an efficient and fair way of creating a more innovative and responsive educational system? Will choice lead to educational variety or educational anarchy? Clearly, the answers to these questions are difficult to determine, but the struggle to arrive at the answers will shape American education for a long time, whatever the eventual policy outcomes.
