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From personal experience, the quality of the school district rates played an important part in what area I chose to live. I would have loved to live within city limits for convenience, but with the city public school system shown being unreliable and in poor financial standings, I feared my children would be also being short-changed of an education. For me, there was no possibility of sending my children to city schools. I was fortunate enough to find a public school that can provide the education that my son and daughter need and have a right to. The sad part is however, a lot of people do not have that choice to make for their children, because of low-income housing, people have to settle for overcrowded, inexperienced teachers, and an understaffed school system. Making school vouchers available to low-income families, especially in urban areas, would give these children a chance to excel in school and in life. Low-income families have a right to an equal education. Parents in middle and upper class communities have made sure their children attended schools where they would get the best possible education. Low-income parents should not be closed to this option. School vouchers would zero in on closing the achievement gap between rich and poor students. Many cities across the United States have already implemented a school voucher program and succeeded in making an equal education possible for these children. Poverty-stricken children in urban areas are a largely minorities and immigrants, with time and proper education these children can grow to bring their families out of poverty. Vouchers would also give parents more involvement in a student’s education, and parental involvement is powerfully linked with student achievement. A school voucher system would help students, teachers, and schools that are struggling. Though still in their infancy, school voucher programs have improved overall student academic achievement in public schools. Programs that include religious schools and those limited to public institutions alone have both demonstrated that choice leads to higher quality education. When public schools are faced with the possibility of large student transfers and a corresponding loss of funding, they have shown a willingness to make improvements both in teaching methods and curriculum. Teachers and administrators become aware of changes needed in a declining system, if only to preserve their jobs. Public schools, which lose students because of vouchers, need to reevaluate and retool their curriculum and examine their standards. The funding available to education should remain the same even with a voucher system; the government will simply distribute those funds differently to produce the best results. In conclusion, school vouchers will not cause our public school system to fail; it is already failing on its own accord in many ways. Impoverished urban neighborhoods put many urban public schools especially at risk for crime. The awareness, threat, or experience of school violence can result in a growing sense of fear, and fear erodes the academic environment. Children who continuously expend energy to defend themselves against real or imagine dangers have difficulty learning. Under similarly stressful conditions, teachers may become less effective in the classroom. Ironically, certain measures designed to improve school safety may, in some cases, create a school atmosphere that is detrimental to the learning process. For example, teachers and students may consider the presence of metal detectors, security cameras, and security forces unsettling, especially if they perceive these measures as symbols of failed efforts to improve school safety. Research shows that chronic exposure to violence adversely affects a child’s ability to learn. Children who achieve in school and develop important reading, critical-thinking, problem solving, and communication skills are better able to cope with stressful and perhaps dangerous situations. Another problem with the public school system in urban areas is overcrowding. There is evidence showing that particularly in schools with a high proportion of students living in poverty, overcrowding can have a dire impact on learning. Crowded classroom conditions not only make it difficult for students to concentrate on their lessons, but inevitably limit the amount of time teachers can spend on new teaching methods or teaching anything beyond the barest minimum of required material. More importantly, rather than undertaking the more important task of improving their schools, administrators must devote their time and energies to maintaining order and safety. Many disputes have arisen about school vouchers taking away much needed government funding and the highly controversial, constitutional amendment allowing the separation of church and state. The main focus, however, should be on the children and how to best meet their educational needs. As the saying goes “children are our future” by giving parents the ability to choose programs based upon their child’s educational needs, all parties involved stand to benefit. School vouchers are a valuable tool in educational reform. Due to their flexibility, they can be used by each community to redress the economic inequities of the current system, promote improvement of local public schools, and provide an economically feasible option for areas to support their own school system. Bibliography: Word Count: 893
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