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School Strife -- Should We Give Preference to Fat Cats or Money Grubbers?
By Pat
Pending
This past
week we have heard much agonizing about which students are to be allowed
to attend which schools in Jefferson County.
Currently, four students are knocking at the door of a traditional
school for every one student that is allowed in. The other three are forced to attend a school that is less
satisfactory. Students may be
prevented from attending the school of their choice due to their race or
due to failure to win a lottery. Many
people are very upset, saying that the current system just isn’t fair.
We might ask
ourselves why there is so much dissatisfaction and dissension in the area
of education, when other areas of our lives do not promote such
controversy. We do not have
people vocally upset because the type of home they want to buy is not
available. People are not writing letters to the newspaper saying that
they are being prevented from buying the kind of food they want. Families
are not lining up in frustration over being unable to obtain suitable
clothing for their children. Why
don’t we have the same kinds of complaints in these other areas of our
lives that we have in the area of education?
The simple answer is that, mercifully, the government has not yet
established control over these other areas, so the free market is still
able to operate to meet people’s needs for food, clothing, and shelter.
Unfortunately, the government has a monopoly over education, so the
free market is not able to operate effectively to meet the needs of
consumers in that area.
In a
monopoly, the fat cats take our money by force and then decide for
themselves what they think is best for us, whereas, in the free market,
the money-grubbing business people knock themselves out trying to meet our
needs in order to earn a profit. If
we want more single family homes, the money-grubbing business people
supply them. If we want more
blue jeans, they are produced, and so forth.
Only in a monopoly situation would we have four people begging for
each available product and no enterprising business person racing in to
meet that unmet demand. While
we generally take the free market for granted, we should appreciate the
fact that the free market has a wonderful way of meeting people’s needs
and wants with a minimum of strife.
And, we should recognize that the lack of a free market in
education is causing our problems in that area.
If consumers were free to use their education money to buy the type
of education they wanted, then the money-grubbing business people would
rush in to fill the unmet needs in order to earn a profit.
If four children wanted spots in traditional schools, then the
money-grubbing business people would make sure that those spots were made
available, and no child would be left out in the cold.
Furthermore, even after meeting that need, the money-grubbers would
continually work to develop “new and improved” services, to try to
lure us away from the competition.
Whenever
the government creates a monopoly and then doles out the products or
services, there will be frustration, dissension, and unfairness, as
currently exists in the area of education.
And, whenever there is free competition, the needs of consumers
are much more likely to be met. So,
the answer is clear, not only for educational services but for almost
any area in our lives. If we want to increase the satisfaction of
consumers and reduce strife and discord, we need to eliminate the
barriers to competition. Get
those fat cat bureaucrats off of their thrones and get their hands out
of our pockets. And, at the
same time, unleash those money-grubbing business people so they can
compete their little hearts out to please us!
INFLATION: Cutting money in half without damaging the
paper.
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