The market approach to education

by John F Witte

"Milwaukee, one of the nation's most segregated metropolitan areas, implemented in 1990 a school choice program aimed at improving the education of inner-city children by enabling them to attend a selection of private schools. In this book, John Witte provides a broad yet detailed framework for understanding the Milwaukee experiment and its implications for the market approach to American education. Witte brings a balanced perspective to the picture by demonstrating why it is wrong-headed to be pro- or anti-school choice in the abstract. He explains why the voucher program seems to be working in the specific case of Milwaukee, but warns that such programs would not necessarily promote equal education - and most likely harm the poor - if applied universally, across the socioeconomic spectrum."--Jacket.