Justice Talking: School Vouchers: Leading Advocates Debate Today's Most Controversial Issues [Paperback]

Kathryn Kolbert (Author), Zak Mettger (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2002 | Series: Justice Talking

Prominent attorneys debate web censorship and school vouchers in a compelling new book-and-CD series inspired by the popular National Public Radio program Justice Talking. The New Press is proud to announce a major new collaboration with the National Public Radio series Justice Talking, an acclaimed radio program that features leading attorneys debating controversial contemporary issues. In book-and-CD sets that include the complete audio recordings and transcripts of the Justice Talking shows, overviews of the legal and other arguments relating to each issue, and a variety of primary source materials, the Justice Talking series of publications are unparalleled introductions to the leading debates of our time.

One of President George W. Bush's priorities has been the expansion of the controversial school voucher program, which ostensibly gives children who attend failing public schools the ability to obtain a better, private education elsewhere. Denounced by its opponents as a thinly disguised attempt to fund parochial schools, the voucher program has become a flash point for anger over public education in general and for how students are being educationally shortchanged. In a fascinating overview of this roiling controversy, Barry Lynn of America's United for Separation of Church and State and Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice debate the merits of school vouchers in the audio component of this innovative book-and-CD set. Originally aired on National Public Radio as part of the Justice Talking series, the recorded debate is presented here in its entirety. An accompanying book includes a complete transcription along with a summary of the pro and con arguments, both legal and educational, and a range of relevant primary source materials. An incomparable guide to a cutting-edge debate, Justice Talking: School Vouchers offers a roadmap for parents, teachers, community leaders, and others to a complicated yet crucial issue.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In our multimedia world, this National Public Radio-New Press collaboration on a hot-button constitutional issue should have considerable reader appeal.The concept is simple: NPR's Justice Talking, with moderator Margo Adler, hosts articulate partisans on two sides of a controversial issue. That debate is reproduced here on a compact disc and in a transcript. Then Kolbert, an attorney and the executive producer of Justice Talking, and Mettger add an introduction and relevant primary sources.The debaters are Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice and Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The authors' introduction traces this battle's history, describes voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida, and summarizes the educational and legal arguments for and against vouchers. The primary sources are three key Supreme Court decisions. Includes a helpful glossary and a list of organizations supporting each side of the issue. More volumes are planned--on affirmative action, gun control, the death penalty, and symbolic speech. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Kathryn Kolbert, executive producer of the Justice Talking radio program, produced by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, has been recognized many times by the National Law Journal as one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America." Zak Mettger is the author of two juvenile books on the Civil War and co-author of Who Killed George Polk?

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565847164
• ISBN-13: 978-1565847163
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,473,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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