Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society [Hardcover]

Joseph P. Viteritti (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0815790465 | ISBN-13: 978-0815790464 | Publication Date: October 1999

Drawing on his background as a political scientist, legal scholar and education practitioner, Joseph Viteritti argues that 21st-century America needs to create a policy of choice in its education system that enhances the opportunities of those children whose needs are not being met by the present system, namely, the poor. The book posits that providing the poor with public support to attend religious schools is consistent with the pluralist constituitional model envisaged by Madison and the practices common to contemporary democratic societies. It explains how denying choice to the poor undermines the redistributive social agenda of the modern liberal state, and how a strict standard of church-state segregation is out of touch with the culture of poor minority communities where the Church is the most viable institution for social progress.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this passionately argued polemic in favor of school choice, New York University public administration professor Viteritti sets forth a proposal for a tax-supported choice or "voucher" program that would be open only to low-income children, who would be able to choose among public schools, independent private schools or religious schools. Viteritti says his plan, which particularly aims to help black and Hispanic students stuck in inadequate inner-city schools, has much in common with the redistributive social policies usually identified with a liberal agenda. But opponents of school choice will likely peg this as a conservative program that would weaken public education, fragment schools along ethnic, cultural and religious lines and undermine the separation of church and state. To these critics, Viteritti retorts that school choice will create healthy competition, inducing public schools to shape up; that minority and poor children do significantly better academically when given a choice of schools; and that today's public education system is oppressive and antiegalitarian because it deters economically disadvantaged parents from sending their kids to parochial schools. Public education's secularist ethos, he argues, goes against the pluralism that animated the early American republic. Viteritti includes a detailed assessment of assorted choice programs, such as curriculum-enriched "magnet schools," inter-district choice, black independent schools (which he endorses, while others see them as a step backward toward segregation) and state-chartered public schools that give teachers and administrators greater autonomy in setting policy and curriculum in exchange for higher levels of accountability. Voucher plans recently enacted in Milwaukee, Cleveland and the state of Florida will intensify the fierce national debate on this issue and ensure the timeliness of Viteritti's scholarly manifesto. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"... Viteritti has combed the cumulative literature on school vouchers and constructed an argument that is both sensible and sensitive..." -- Philanthropy, November/December 1999

"... makes a compelling case for giving needy children the chance to escape failing schools." -- Council for American Private Education Outlook, March 2000

"... the potential to unite both the left and the right political constituencies supporting school choice. An intellectual tour de force." -- School Reform News, May, 2000

"...passionately argued polemic in favor of school choice..." -- Publisher's Weekly, January 3, 2000

"Choosing Equality presents a strong case for school choice schemes aimed at low income families." -- Teachers College Record, March 21, 2000

"If there is a more thorough and thoughtful argument for school choice, I am unaware of it." -- National Review, March 20, 2000

"Viteritti offers an up-to-date account of a phenomenon that has been rapidly changing..." -- Political Science Quarterly, fall, 2000

"When school choice takes its proper place in the history of American reform movements... [this] will be a key text." -- Public Interest, spring 2000

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815790465
• ISBN-13: 978-0815790464
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,920,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Viteritti shifts the debate, November 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society (Hardcover)

The idea of vouchers has been around for years. But the reasons behind this idea were never sufficiently compelling to get the idea of vouchers taken seriously.

That has begun to change and Viteritti's book is the most thorough and eloquent enunciation of the new raison d'etre behind school choice.

Viteritti casts the question in terms of equality. Why should poor and minority children be so often forced to attend schools that perpetually fail to provide a good education?

It's hard to answer that question. The best one can do is to complain that these schools can't do better because they are underfunded.

But Viteritti and others show that the connection between funding and high achievement is conditional- unless the money is spent wisely, it will do no good. There are numerous examples of inner-city schools where per pupil funding is as high as it is in the suburbs. Yet, achievement remains very low.

In light of this, it only seems reasonable to give those children who want to go elsewhere the opportunity to do so. There aren't enough seats in public schools, so private schools must become the outlets.

It's a well written book and it makes a lot of sense. If you put the kids first instead of the schools and those employed there, you are liekly to come to the same conclusion as Viteritti.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, April 9, 2000

By 

Jim Dwyer (Wyoming) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society (Hardcover)

I support vouchers, but if I did not this book would not convince me to do so. It provides some interesting accounts of the history of school financing and of recent conflicts over vouchers, but it is difficult to have confidence in the accuracy of these accounts, because of the author's transparent bias. Studies and arguments that support Viteritti's conclusions are generally accepted at face value, while those counter to his conclusions are criticized at length or simply dismissed out of hand. The "good guys - bad guys" tenor of the writing if off-putting. Beyond this, the reasoning from empirical assumptions is often flawed. For example, he notes a decline in test scores among public school students over the years, and concludes from this that public schools are doing a worse job of educating students, ignoring alternative explanations -- for instance, that public school students increasingly come from home environments that impede their learning, as the number of children living in poverty and in single-parent homes has dramatically increased. But the largest problem with the book, in my view, is that while the author initially, and commendably, claims to have the welfare of poor children as his principal objective, for most of the book his primary concern is actually with the religious freedom of parents, and with not offending any parents by suggesting some might not be expert at choosing schools for their children. There is a good case to be made for state funding of private schooling, but I do not think this is it.