The School Choice Wars

by John Merrifield

Book Overview

What does the term 'school choice' mean to you? Opponents of parental choice have muddied its definition, misleading parents and educators and drawing public debate away from the core issues. In a book geared for anyone who wants to better understand this hotly contested topic, Merrifield clarifies the proposals in existence today, defining the key concepts related to choice. Arguing for a competitive education industry, he discusses policy and political...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810839563
• ISBN13: 9780810839564
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: R & L Education
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The best, most cutting-edge work on school choice

John Merrifield's book is simply the best book on the subject of choice available today. Merrifield, a colleague of the Father of School Choice, Milton Friedman, is an academic who has dedicated himself to the study of this subject. He is not some dilitante who wants to make a few dollars from the sale of a sloppily-written book. He has brought all the power of his impressive intellect to bear upon his topic. It is also the most up-to-date study of a complex subject which changes and evolves every year. Most other books on the subject which were once quite informative are now like an old newspaper -- a part of dusty history.Merrifield is at his best in understanding and presenting all arguments against choice. He has been to the academic conferences -- the birth places of the liberal spin. He knows firsthand what arguments the Democrats will use against choice next year and he offers well-reasoned and effective counters to each shot the liberals have offered or will offer.As a scholar, Merrifield is used to tough scrutiny. His work has stood up to peer review. His work has been challenged at rigorous academic conferences. It has been improved by a man whose ideas are constantly evolving. The reader of this book has the benefit of all of that intellectual ferment. The mistakes in ideas and tactics have been weeded out of this book.The reader of this book will be getting the best, most cutting-edge work on the subject.

Yes, the marketplace should apply to schools, too.

John Merrifield exhibits a first-clss undrstanding of how the marketplace works, why it works well, and how it should work in the context of schooling. Rather than have an educational elite or tyranical majority make the choices for our children, Dr. Merrifield argues that parents in consultation with their children should be allowed to make such choices themselves. School vouchers, originally proposed by Milton Friedman, provides just such a way. While the prinicple is simple and would have the effect of keeping costs low and quality high, the political application of those principles has been sorely lacking. The handful of experiments with vouchers have had the decks stacked against them, as Dr. Merrifield demonstrates convincingly. In short, John Merrifield's book effectively supports his position in favor of vouchers by laying out both the conceptual and empirical framework for understanding what he has termed "the school choice wars."