This week I’ve been enjoying an academic-like conference sponsored by the Grand Rapids think tank, Acton Institute.
Yesterday I presented a lecture, with accompanying Keynote slides, as part of the University academic program, on “School Choice and Private Education.” Having stuffed my lecture with a full 30% more material than I could deliver in 45 minutes, I was compelled to omit, among other things, this wonderful concluding citation, la cerise sur le gâteau:
“In the new politics of education, the conservatives have become the progressives, pushing for major change, promoting the causes of the disadvantaged, and allying themselves with the poor. The progressives of yesteryear, meantime, have become the conservatives of today, resisting change, defending the status quo against threats from without, and opposing the poor constituents they claim to represent. In its consequences for the American system of education, this is perhaps the most important political transformation of modern times—and the private voucher movement, as both a creature of the new politics and a major force for its expansion, is right at the heart of it” (cited from Private Vouchers, by Terry M. Moe [Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1995], p. 35).
You can, if you’d like, obtain an MP3 recording of the lecture here.
Among the many helpful Internet resources, two were exceptionally useful: Matthew J. Brouillette’s The Case for Choice in Schooling (here) and the website of the American Federation for Children.
Give these resources a look, and think about joining the civil rights movement of this generation.
