In an effort to raise awareness for National School Choice week, Young Americans for Freedom will join with the Hillsdale Academy headmaster to speak about school choice at 4 p.m. today in Lane 124.
“National School Choice Week is a way of taking the principals of the free market economics and applying it to education,” junior YAF president Nathan Brand said.
This event is the second YAF event had this week on school choice. On Feb. 5, YAF showed the education documentary “Waiting for Superman.”
“This documentary shows that there is still a lot to be done in education reform,” Brand said. “But having the option of a charter school allows a family to have a choice of schools for their family.”
Brand said YAF was also planning on attending a rally in Lansing with other groups, but, due to lack of organization from those groups, the rally fell through.
Michigan is a school choice state. This means families have the option of choosing to go to the school within their district or to go to another.
“We are lucky to be in a state and county where there is this competition,” Calvert said.
Calvert pointed to states such as New York, where parents don’t have the option of moving their children out of failing schools.
Calvert said the main benefit is that this creates competition between charter, public, and private schools. Calvert also said the only down side of the option is that it loses the community aspect behind the schools.
Brand said there are 42 states that have already put some form of school choice in place. He also said many of these states have put in some form of tax voucher for families who choose to send their children to private schools.
