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Privatization In The United States

Submitted By
Words 1631
Pages 7
Marlena Michalczuk
Mrs. O’Connell
AP Government & Politics
05 November 2014

Privatization of Education
Privatization is the idea of transferring power or ownership of businesses from the government to a privately owned entity (“Privatization”). The idea of privatization in the United States has been around for a while, but it has become more controversial within recent years. There are many arguments for and against privatization. Efforts to privatize the American educational system have been made in recent years. Privatization of schools has many advantages and disadvantages making it hard to determine what is the right course of action.
In recent years, all levels of government have been exploring privatization as a way of reducing costs. …show more content…
Educational vouchers are one of such developing policies. Schools are funded through taxes paid by local communities, regions or the national government. Those funds are then divided by the total number of students in a given community(Belfield). The voucher system allocates a specific amount of money to each student annually. The student could use that money to enroll in any eligible school (Belfield). The school would obtain money based on the number of students that enrolled in its program. If not enough students enrolled, the school would not have adequate funding and therefore it would be forced to close. Schools would still require government funding, but they would be run privately. Public school choice is another policy which allows parents to choose between public schools. Commonly, enrollment in a school is determined by its’ location. Students attend the school in their neighborhood. Public school choice would allow parents to pick amongst the public schools available where there is adequate transportation (Belfield). Tuition tax credits provide parents with a tax deduction, or money subtracted from the amount of tax that is owed, for school tuition (Belfield). Lastly, charter schools are schools run by businesses, private corporations, or foundations funded with public money. They are exempt from many state and local rules and run independently. They’re meant to allow teachers to explore …show more content…
One of the main ideas or principles of privatization is competition. Students will never learn to value education if they are taught in an environment fueled by competition. They will focus on achieving high grades and resort to cheating if they are feeling pressured to perform well. They will study material solely for the test and forget it right after (Rosales). Teachers on the other hand, will base their lessons around tests as well. If they are evaluated by students’ test scores, instead of teaching students to understand the material, they will teach to the test (Rosales). Education should not be an opportunity for corporations to make a profit. Yes, privatizing some services like books and food programs is crucial, but privatizing entire schools is a whole another level. Another aspect that people seem to miss is that public schools offer students a very diverse environment where they can learn to appreciate and respect different cultures. Private schools would segregate students based on socioeconomic status, religion and race. They would lose their appreciation for people that are different than themselves in various ways. Lastly, I don’t think that large corporations like Bank of America or Walmart should be getting taxpayers’ money. After all, privatized schools are institutions set up to make a profit. I don’t think it’s fair that the

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