School Vouchers Essay, Research Paper

The state of Connecticut should not mandate the use of school vouchers. This mandate would only transfer the problems of the state’s public schools into the state’s private schools.

First, tax dollars should be used to improve the failing public education system in Connecticut. With the mandate of school vouchers, millions of dollars would be drawn away from the state’s public school system, and pumped into the already wealthy private institutions. Private schools can already provide proper technology, supplies, and educators for their students, while public schools lack these essentials. Thus, one must question why the state would give more money to a system that is in fine condition, while we watch the public school system crumble before our eyes. To do such is ludicrous, portraying the message to outsiders that the people of this honorable state have given up on its publicly funded institutions.

In addition, school vouchers would not solve the problems that supporters of the program anticipate. These “problems” would simply be shifted from the public schools to the private schools. At the private institutions, the enrollment influx would cause higher class numbers, larger student to teacher ratios, and increased segregation among student. In effect, the overall quality of learning that these institutions once had to offer would be squandered; a quality of learning that is said to be better than Connecticut’s public schools. In other words, the hopelessness and fear now being developed in the state’s public schools would just be passed on to the private schools.

If vouchers were mandated, public schools may see their top academic students leave to attend private institutions. Through propaganda techniques, students have been inbred to believe that private schools are better, smarter, and more successful places to be educated at than public schools.

Connecticut must not lose hope on its public school system. It is a system rich with history, honor, and integral education. The public school system has weakened in recent times, causing a false sense of hopelessness, but should not be given up on. It can be saved with the right tactics. Therefore, instead of placing more money into private institutions, the money for school vouchers could be used to revamp Connecticut’s public education system.