School Choice and the Public InterestRecent trends toward school privatization and exemption from state requirements falsely imply that schools should reflect the wishes of parents and ignore the public interest in having citizens educated for democracy Rob Reich, who recently received his doctorate in philosophy of education from Stanford, is writing a book on school vouchers, charter schools and homeschooling. Reich expressed his view that the nation is sliding too far into a deregulated school system. "The guiding idea behind privatization, whether it's vouchers, charter schools, or homeschooling, is that parents should be the sole decision-making agents about what kind of education their children receive. But this eviscerates the public or civic purposes of school." Public schooling itself is not the goal, he said, and public schools do not necessarily do better than private schools at educating children to serve state interests, which he said means preparing children for both the workforce and the democratic participation. Those who intervened in the discussion pushed Reich to specify the content of an education for democratic participation. “Some would say reading and writing is enough,” he responded. “Personally, I would go a few steps further to say that students should learn to converse with others on the public stage.” The voluntary national standards for civics education suggest “a combination of making sure students know the history and shape of the structure of government and how to influence public deliberation and policy,” he said. Others suggest experience-oriented programs, often called service learning. “My model has been the Socratic dialogue, in which the teacher is a leader and p...... middle of paper ...... trudges through white, middle-class, religious families who want more control about their values ​​are exposed or fear for their safety, Reich said. “I am convinced that further privatization is inevitable,” he added. "People say President Clinton sent his daughter to private school. If we're serious about social justice, we should give all parents the same choice that wealthy parents have. "How would that change that?" he was asked to Reich. state supervision,” he said. “Perhaps public dollars could flow to them if the curriculum served state interests. A democracy has needs, but that doesn't mean public schools have to meet them."