What Toyotas can teach us about public education

Imagine this: The government institutes a new program whereby it will begin confiscating money from citizens via taxation in order to help them buy a car the next time they need one. The car will be "free" but you have to take whatever the government determines is best for you. And right now that car is a Toyota.

"But wait," you say. "Aren't Toyota's having all those accelerator problems right now? I don't want a Toyota right now." Well… yes, but too bad. A Toyota is what you get, accelerator problems or not. Or you could buy the car of your choice – that is permitted – but you are not able to get the money back that the government already taxed away from you for that Toyota.

Fair? Of course not. No American would stand for it. Except that actually we do – every day in fact. We accept this exact same process when it comes to one of the most important aspects of our lives: The education of our children.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported today that statewide 145 schools missed one or more "adequate yearly progress targets" with regards to the federal "No Child Left Behind" law. In other words, they have "accelerator problems." Now, I'm no fan of NCLB for several reasons, but that's not the point of this post, so I won't digress. But the fact remains: Many Wisconsin schools are under-performing.

So what is a parent to do? It's fair to point out that under the state's open enrollment law, parents can choose another public school in another district, space permitting. Some local districts will even allow you to enroll in another school within your same district – again, space permitting. But this is like saying you can get the Corolla if you don't like the Camry. Either way, it's still a Toyota.

It baffles me that state lawmakers and school boards recognize and accept the fact that it may be in a student's best interest to enroll in a school other than his or her assigned neighborhood school, yet on the other hand continue to restrict that student's options. Private schools are off limits, and charters are frequently stymied or have wait lists. Indeed, monopolies rarely like to relinquish control, because with control comes money.

Americans know that it would be unfair to dictate to consumers what brand of car they must purchase. More importantly, they realize that the service levels provided would inevitably deteriorate from any company that was granted such a monopoly, while prices would skyrocket.

It's only a matter of time before they realize that this same logic applies to far more important concern of educating children.