School vouchers essay

School education is associated with constant improvement and new suggestions and proposals that are considered to be crucial in changing our perception of education either in a positive or negative way. However, all the improvements that are made in modern schools are full of controversial issues, so that the school officials cannot come to a reasonable compromise. School vouchers are among such issues. Many people give arguments in favor of school vouchers, while others oppose such an innovation. The pros and cons of school vouchers will be discussed further.

In fact, with the help of school vouchers, students can get an easier access to private schools in comparison with public ones. This means that school vouchers make private schools much more affordable, but this issue has both negative and positive sides. On the one hand, private schools are often unaffordable for those families, which are deemed to be not that well-to-do. Some of the private schools are less costly, but even such schools are associated with a great financial burden for parents. What if a family does not have money to afford a private school? This is what a school voucher is needed for. As a rule, only wealthy families can afford a luxury of educating their children in private schools. As for the poor parents, they do not have many options to choose from, but school vouchers in this situation are of great help.

Furthermore, it is argued that private schools provide a better education, than public ones. In this regard, children studying in private schools show more abilities and skills than those studying in public ones. Thus, school vouchers are claimed to improve overall level of education among school children. This leads to a suggestion that with the help of school vouchers, the level of education throughout the country will be improved. Such vouchers do not only save money of parents, but also stand for a high-quality education provided to children all across the United States. Furthermore, it is suggested that it is better to invest finances in the improvement of private schools, than use it for some inefficient operations. Much money is simply wasted. So why not to invest it in the bright future of private schools that can be achieved with the help of school vouchers?

As for the contrary opinions, there are several drawbacks of school vouchers. One of the most important of them is the fact that a great number of schools that are covered by school vouchers are religious. In such a way, the government is supposed to invest money in various religious organizations, which is basically unacceptable. It simply violates the First Amendment that draws a distinct line between the state and religious matters. This Amendment suggests that no religious organization should interfere with one’s own beliefs. In such a way, if to invest money in religious schools, it might interfere with students’ own religious beliefs, although basically it is up to parents to decide what school to choose for their children.

As for other disadvantages of school vouchers, it should be noted that they might make the situation with public schools even worse due to the fact that they will be financed by the government, while the public schools will be deprived of such a luxury. Furthermore, private schools are not so strictly supervised, so they are likely to function without following any basic ethical principles, which is also unacceptable. Private schools are likely to be full of prejudice and discrimination towards students based on their race, socio-economic status, religious beliefs or some disabilities. On the other hand, public schools accept students disregarding all the above aspects. Thus, it makes private schools a bad choice for those who are afraid of being discriminated, and school vouchers in this case will be of no help.