As a society we’ve chosen not to let poor people starve. Anyone who cannot afford to feed himself is provided food by the government, funded by taxpayers. But to do this, we don’t have the government running farms and grocery stores. Instead, the government gives people money or food stamps to buy food at the same places everyone else does.

This makes sense because the market economy organizes farms, transportation, and distribution of food far better than government ever could. Indeed, this system works so well, it makes food so abundant and inexpensive that obesity is far more common than malnutrition!

So when our society decides every kid should get a decent education even if his family can’t afford it, why do people assume this means the government has to create and operate schools? Why don’t we let the market economy organize education and give poor people money or vouchers to attend the same schools everyone else does?

Everything I’ve read about economics and education suggests this would work much better. We’d have higher quality education, with greater variety of methods better tailored to the individual needs of students and families, more accountable to families, delivered at a lower price.

Consider the incredible variety at your local grocery store. Not only is food abundant and inexpensive all year-round, coordinated with farmers who grow it world-wide in a complex, efficient distribution network. Yet it also meets the unique needs of small minorities: foods for diabetics, vegans, kosher or halal, etc. In contrast, the 20th century has demonstrated that when governments attempt to operate or micromanage the farming and distribution of food it leads to mass starvation.

It is only fair to assume people on all sides of the debate have good intentions. Just because someone questions public schools, doesn’t mean he is against education, or thinks education should favor the wealthy. Au contraire! The current system of public schools all too often condemns poor people to terrible schools because they live in low-income areas, while wealthy people have better public schools and also the option to send their kids to private schools that only they can afford. These problems result from our government operating schools. That’s unnecessary and counterproductive. Letting the market organize independently operated schools and giving poor people money or vouchers to attend the school of their choice would improve schools and make them available to ALL kids and families.