Vouchers as a Fix for Schools

* Re “The Business Model Won’t Fix Schools,” Opinion, Sept. 3:

Dorothy Shipps is mistaken when she articulates that the “corporate model” will not fix schools. For this experiment to succeed, it must follow business methods. Society would need to pay competitive incomes before it could demand competitive results. No business could survive in private commerce without paying competitive incomes while demanding competitive performance. Of course, those in private commerce who do not perform are dismissed.

No private entity could compete in commerce if it did not have the ability to demand performance with dismissal as an option. The education industry will never succeed unless it too can dismiss unproductive employees.

ROY A. FASSEL

Los Angeles

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As a black American I found “Blacks Split Over Vouchers” (Sept. 3) both revealing and encouraging. I saw two types of black leaders in Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Rep. Floyd Flake (D-N.Y.). Flake says rather than looking at vouchers as a right-wing, white conspiracy, look at them as an opportunity. Waters says vouchers are the brainchild of political conservatives and questions why successful white men would become deeply involved in education.

Flake sees the depressing plight of black students in public schools and works to address the issue in measurable ways. Waters sees the plight of black students and can offer no better advice than to oppose vouchers.

The encouraging part is the many voices of black parents demanding a choice and the many examples of successful settings where black children are soaring academically. We need more of this.

Rep. Waters’ color consciousness demonstrates how the civil rights movement has moved beyond where many black leaders are prepared to go. It is encouraging to see this split in black opinion on this most important topic.

STERLING DELONE

Los Angeles

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If the idea of subsidizing parents for sending their children to private or parochial schools becomes a reality, I would like to see it extended to some other areas of life where I too would like to make some subsidized choices. For example, my experiences with public transportation have not been very satisfactory, and therefore I want a voucher so that I can engage the services of a private limousine company. Also, I am not comfortable with the level of personal protection that the police can provide me, and I want a voucher to enable me to hire a private bodyguard.

The notion of providing vouchers for school choice violates a well-established legal principle that holds that while you might indeed have certain constitutional rights, it is not the place of the public to subsidize your exercise of those rights. Beyond the inappropriateness of that type of subsidy, vouchers will also provide direct public support to religious schools and for-profit private schools.

DENNIS L. EVANS

Newport Beach