Promoting A Class System
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Some people argue that people who choose to attend a non-state school should have to pay for the privilege. This is said to justify the present system which cuts your funding if you shift out of a state-run school.
But the effect of this biased channelling of taxpayers' money is to concentrate the least-advantaged children into state-run schools. This actually reinforces inherited disadvantage. It promotes a class system.
Most non-state schools spend no more dollars on each child than the state system does. If parents were free to choose their school, without financial penalties, there would be a surge in social mobility.
Politicians have to decide whether to support their mates living off fat bureaucracies, or to be true champions of opportunity.
Philip O'Carroll