Say Anything Blog

In the big-government, socialist paradise of Sweden no less.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Schools run by private enterprise? Free iPods and laptop computers to attract students?

It may sound out of place in Sweden, that paragon of taxpayer-funded cradle-to-grave welfare. But a sweeping reform of the school system has survived the critics and 16 years later is spreading and attracting interest abroad.

“I think most people, parents and children, appreciate the choice,” said Bertil Ostberg, from the Ministry of Education. “You can decide what school you want to attend and that appeals to people.”

Since the change was introduced in 1992 by a center-right government that briefly replaced the long-governing Social Democrats, the numbers have shot up. In 1992, 1.7 percent of high schoolers and 1 percent of elementary schoolchildren were privately educated. Now the figures are 17 percent and 9 percent. . . .

They remain completely government-financed and are not allowed to charge tuition fees. The difference is that their government funding goes to private companies which then try to run the schools more cost-effectively and keep whatever taxpayer money they save.

Sounds like success to me.  And imagine that.  Market forces making high-quality education more accessible.

This paragraph struck me as odd, though:

In some ways the trend mirrors the rise of the voucher system in the U.S., with all its pros and cons. But while the percentage of children in U.S. private schools has dropped slightly in recent years, signs are that the trend in Sweden is growing.

Voucher system?  What voucher system does America have?  The only voucher system I’m aware of was one instituted by Governor Jeb Bush in Florida several years ago, and even that wasn’t a universal voucher system.  Only kids who attended schools that failed to meet state standards for two consecutive years got vouchers, and even then the vouchers were only issued until a lawsuit from the unions and civil rights groups shut the program down.

Which was really too bad as it was resulting in some astounding improvements on test scores particularly among poor and minority children.

Utah has instituted a voucher system recently as well, though it’s far too soon to evaluate how that one is working.

Regardless, how much longer can the nation’s liberals, union members and victim pimps continue to oppose school vouchers in the face of a growing mountain of evidence that such programs work?  At some point we’re going to have to realize that the critics of voucher systems are only critics because they’re getting rich off of the current system, and that it’s high time we held the education industry responsible for an inability to educate our children well despite American taxpayers spending more on education than any other taxpayers on the face of the earth/