A long essay in this week's New Republic reviewing Terry Moe's new book, Schools, Vouchers and the American Public, Diane Ravitch explains why liberals should be pro-choice. She traces the history of the modern voucher movement and summarizes survey research analyzed by Moe that shows that the public is deeply ambivalent about vouchers, liking public education but also believing that the current system is inequitable for many children. According to Ravitch, the voucher movement survives because Americans are accustomed to having many choices in their lives. While the public schools are, and will continue to be, a central institution of American life, Ravitch notes that the American tradition of education has always been decidedly pluralistic and included a range of religious options until these were challenged by two different movements in the mid-nineteenth century: the common school movement and the nativist movement. Today's debate over vouchers is merely the continuation of a long-running battle in American history about the role of non-public schools. See "The Right Thing," by Diane Ravitch, The New Republic, October 8, 2001. (Not available online.)
